One Times Infinity
by Yusagi
Summary: The walls between universes are more fragile than they seem. Once again it falls to the Doctor to save more than one universe...but can he fight what he wants the most? And who is this unseen enemy? A postDoomsday reunion, of sorts.
1. Fluctuation

I've had this idea rampaging around in my head for half a month now and it's only just mature enough to be written. This idea could be seen as an amalgam of fics I've read, comments made by the Doctor in canon, too much experience with Kingdom Hearts and something almost bordering on an obsession with reading/watching everything dealing with alternate universes and timelines in each of the many many fandom I belong to.

Credit for feasible grammar and Doc characterization, and the title, and the summary, allll go to the lovely girl who volunteered to beta this fic.  
firefaery2

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_One Times Infinity_

**Chapter 1: _Fluctuation_**

Rose Tyler frowned slightly as she looked up from her lunch. Lunch was chips, chips, and more chips. They were far from all she ate, but they were a fast and easy meal for a lunch break, and they tasted just the same in this universe as they had in the other- if not as good as the spiked ones she had once had in that doomed school. However, that was probably a good thing, considering the flavoring used on those.

The cafe was far too expensive and most of its food of a low quality, but she always went there for lunch; it had been a restaurant in her home universe that she had visited with the Doctor when she felt homesick and he refused to see Jackie. Mickey was always telling her to try the restaurant across the street- her mum, too. Jackie would regularly advise her to stop dwelling on the old universe and and focus on the wonders of this new one. Rose knew full well what they really meant.

But she was not dwelling. She did not obsess over seeing _him_ again; she did not slack off on her thoroughly _fascinating_ investigations into alien scares to read up on interversal travel. As it turned out, there were no textbooks in the local library specializing in that sort of thing, and she _had_ moved on… in her own way. She lived a life, she smiled and cooed over the bulge that was her younger brother to- be. Life went on as if the Doctor had never been.  
Except it didn't. Not really.  
If Rose had anything to do with it, it never would.

She would not- could not- ever truly forget him. He was still alive out there, impossibly far away and sometimes, during her daily Torchwood routine, she would pass the now pointless white wall and she could swear it was not so far away after all- swear that she could feel him, a ghost in her mind, just on the other side. It was impossible, of course; the wall did not _really_ connect her to the other universe anymore. She could not even begin to comprehend the walls that separated her from the Doctor now. Fixed walls, no longer so much as a hairline fracture through which to feel him- he had sealed them all three months ago to protect both universes.

Even so, sometimes, just for a little while, she'd let herself believe that she really could feel him, that he had missed a tiny, insignificant little crack on purpose, that he could feel her too and was trying to send her a little comfort. That he was still thinking about her, too.

It was during those nights that her mother would hold her tight for hours that seemed endless. Her mum never complained and would never reprimand her; Jackie knew what it was like, having lost her husband, and, no matter how many times Rose would end up sobbing nonsensical questions like a child, she never once told Rose to let _him_ go. They both knew Rose would never do it, and Rose occasionally considered the fact that her mum might not want her to anymore than she did.

Rose sighed as her watch beeped and glanced ruefully down at her half-finished plate of chips. One of these days she was going to actually finish her lunch.

Standing and giving her pressed uniform a quick once-over, she was out of the door before the owner finished wishing her a good day. There had recently been a strange explosion all too near to the rift, killing and injuring several people. Torchwood had been working on it for four days and it seemed like any substantial evidence had been diligently eluding them. There were no reported ghost or zombie stories, so that ruled-out anything like the Gelth, and they were left with the mere fact that it was coincidentally close to the rift. In short, they could find nothing to suggest that the event was even within Torchwood's area of expertise.

Currently they were monitoring the city in search of anything odd that may be relevant. Rose's job was to search through the recorded interrogations of the survivors for a tenth time and try to spot anything of importance, which was why she was not terribly worried about making her way through the mess of people heading back from lunch-breaks. In fact, she may have stopped off to pick up a gift for Pete's birthday party, to be held next week, if not for the shout that cut straight through the din of the crowd and instantly formed a lump in her throat so big she nearly choked.

A voice she could not possibly have heard.

"_Rose?!_"

--

The Doctor squinted slightly as he stepped out of the TARDIS. The Earth's sun always seemed entirely too bright in this regeneration. Perhaps he would take to wearing sunglasses, Rose would have certainly gotten a laugh out of that. He swallowed quickly to dispel the sudden dryness in his throat that often accompanied thoughts of Rose.

Three months. Had it really been such a short time? It felt like lifetimes since he had been robbed of his last chance to tell her _that_. Perhaps it was just that he had done so much in that time. First there was Donna, who had appeared just after his Rose had gone (he blamed the separation for his shortness with her) and then there was Martha. Good woman, Martha. She was intelligent and competent and he had had found himself feeling a little wistful when she had finally decided she wanted to return to her old life. Wistful like when Leela had decided to stay behind, wistful as he had been when any other companion had left. Not like Rose. Rose would never have wanted to go back- to her there _was_ no life to go back to.

He buried his hands in the pockets of his overcoat. He had switched to a blue suit since Rose left; he just hadn't felt right wearing the old one, the pinstripes she loved so much, and prancing around the universe as if she had never been. Regardless of the fact that she was gone from him and his universe forever, she _had_ been and he was never going to allow himself to forget, however many regenerations remained.

It had been a few weeks since Martha had left him and he had not yet found another companion. It wasn't as if he was searching specifically, but then, did he ever, really? They had always come to him quite suddenly and often a little rudely. They thought he chose them but, in the end, it was them that chose him every time, was it not?  
He shook his head, a faint smile on his lips.

"I've gone all soft and poetic in my old age, haven't I?"

The people passing him did not seem to acknowledge that he had spoken. How stereotypically human. He smiled slightly; even he would never fully understand why he loved these silly little apes so much. He shrugged to himself, he had parked the TARDIS here near the rift to allow it to recharge, and so why was he out wandering aimlessly through the city? He could remember a time when he would end up running through these streets for one reason or another at every visit. Rose had proved to be the single greatest jeopardy magnet in the universe. He froze in his tracks. Rose was not here this time and he should be in the TARDIS trying to speed up the repairs so that the universe could be saved again as quickly as possible, not wasting his time living in a memory he could never return to.

Rose was gone. She was never coming back. It was not possible without sacrificing both universes and as much as he may want to, he could never allow himself to indulge in such supreme selfishness. Ever.

He was turning to go back to the TARDIS when she ran into him. More accurately, she slammed full-force into him, carrying an armload of books that went soaring through the air at the sudden collision. If not for his superior reflexes, he might have fallen along with her. Instead, he was just able to catch himself and the flustered brunette, looking rather dashing all the while, if he did say so himself.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm-" The woman looked up and her voice died in her throat.

Her hair was darker; perhaps she had let the blonde grow out and never bothered to re-dye it. Her face seemed more angular, her eyes reflecting the fact that she had lived through terrible, unspeakable things.  
But there she stood, gaping up at him as if he had just sprouted polka-dotted antenna.

"-_Doctor?!_"

He did the only thing he could think of under such insane circumstances.

He kissed her.

_TBC…_

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AN: Well... . Rough first chapter, I know, long, monotonous...but it gets all better, I promise! Well, I'd hope so, anyway.

-_Yusagi_


	2. Anomalies

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own DW. Nope.

**AN:** Don't often write next-chapters very quickly, but the prospect of this fic excites me. What can I say? A writer can enjoy writing as much as a reader can enjoy reading. :P

Once again, all funny theories are backed up with an all-too extensive knowledge

of a dizzying assortment of fandom.

Thanks to SimbiAni82 for helping me to remember my chapter name XD!

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One Times Infinity

**Chapter 2: _Anomalies_**

She was there. After so long she was finally there- warm in his arms and holding him like she had never left. Eyes, wide with surprise, fell closed and... and...

…And exactly _what_ did he think he was doing, kissing Rose in the middle of the street? Why was he simply accepting this impossible act of providence without so much as a word of reprimand over the rules she had broken coming here?

Wait a minute, now... Him. Kissing. Rose?

Hands released the young woman, and he took a hurried step back- he was a nine-hundred year old Time Lord! He neither backpedaled, nor felt nervous over a human female.

"Rose! How did…Where did you…I…that is..."

Her shaky voice broke through his spluttering as she squinted up at him. "You're not my Doctor, are you?"

"I..." He blinked and frowned back at her. "I'm not?"

It was a rather ineloquent thing to say and as he gazed at her, _really_ looked at her this time, he began to realize the differences- things that screamed the fact that, whoever she was, she was not _his_ Rose.

Blue eyes. Blue eyes like ice reflected bitterness and sorrow even through the mild distress that was etched into her expression. The tight, well-formed muscles that adorned her figure could not have developed so quickly.

"Who are you?" He asked, finally, both curious and suspicious.

She blinked for a moment, seeming to gather her composure, before speaking in a somewhat prim tone.

"My name is Rose Tyler."

He suppressed the passing urge to make a silly comment along the lines of 'no, actually, it isn't' and instead shook his head slightly, opting for an authoritative tone.

"Not the one I know."

"Obviously."

"How did you get here?"

"Do you always kiss first and ask questions later?" She shot back, quirking an eyebrow.

He sighed. Couldn't she just forget about that?

"I thought you were someone else."

"What happened to her?"

He blinked, taken aback by her sudden shift of topic.

"Who said anything happened to her?"

She smiled. It wasn't _her _smile; there was something less vibrant about it, like a picture when the colour has faded. All the same, he experienced the familiar clenching of his throat at the image.

"Is she dead?"

"No." He did not answer any more quickly than the situation called for. Of course his Rose was still alive, it was hardly like she spent her days involved in life-endangering adventures anymore.

She nodded. "But not here."

"Who areyou and how did you get here?"

"Rose Tyler. But not your Rose Tyler," she replied, frowning "the Doctor, that

is, _my_ Doctor, said things might be different, but I didn't think..." she paused and glanced at the people passing by, now beginning to stare, and at the mess of books at her feet, "help me pick these up and perhaps we can talk somewhere else?"

"Right." He nodded briskly and moved to pick up the scattered books. He was not exactly _looking _but he could not help catching a few of the titles: '_Predestination or Randomization?_', '_Me, You, and Me_,'

'_Discoherence made_ _Coherent_'…

Several quips came to mind, but he simply gave the young woman a curious and amused look as he handed her the books.

"Not my choice of lunch-break material."

"Well, its not like there was a '_100 Questions About the Void you've been Dying to Ask' _lying around,"

He squinted a moment in recollection.

"Oh, not for another... fifty-thousand years, at least?"

"Then I apologize for not having my own handy little space-box to hop into."

He frowned at her, but decided to let it go.

"Right then, to the TARDIS?"

"What, you're not going to search me for weapons first?"

"Trust me, I've had worse than you in it before."

She gave a smirk that could easily have been a substitute for a thousand withheld comebacks before sweeping an arm out in front of her.

"This way? Unless the rift is somewhere else in this universe?"

He shook his head and turned to follow the young woman as she walked, using her silence as an excuse to gather his thoughts. Here walked another Rose; she had to come through some similar breach in the universe to the one into which _his_ Rose had vanished. There had been no recorded Rose Tyler in that parallel universe. Was she, somehow, from that universe, then? Was there another opening somewhere? His stomach practiced admirable acrobatics at the thought.

He shook his head to regain his senses and sighed. It could not be. He had been keeping an eye on

the wall, monitoring it for any sign whatsoever that there might be another breach- so he could nip it in the bud, of course, so he could protect Rose and both universes. No, she had to be from yet another universe. Which, of course, begged a few questions: had her Doctor sealed the breach? Was she stuck here or was there another rip in reality threatening both universes again? Would she be able to get back through to her universe?

The dark-haired Rose turned and gave him a slim, expectant smile as they reached the familiar form of the TARDIS.

"I don't think my key would work."

He fiercely staunched the ghost of thought that suggested he might prefer this Rose to no Rose at all.

"It might, actually."

"Lost it, anyway."

He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

"You apes..."

She grinned then and it wasn't like her previous reserved smiles. This was wide and true as she chuckled at his remark. She even chewed that bit of her tongue like his Rose always had. He quickly gained a keen interest in opening the TARDIS and turned so that he did not have to watch it.

The warm hum of the TARDIS was reassuring and her renewed presence had a calming effect as Rose stepped inside after him. He heard the door click before she stepped out in front of him to circle the consol. There was a soft look of wonderment on her face before she stopped and looked over at him.

"Its so..." she trailed off softly and sighed.

"Different?"

"Yeah...but very similar at the same time," She said, smiling, "kinda like everything in this universe."

"How did you get here?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"It was in ruins, you know," she went on as if she had not heard him "we don't

even know for sure what happened. One moment we were leaving and then..."

She trailed off again, eyes glistening in the glow of the TARDIS. He resisted the urge to hug her--this was not _his_ Rose and he planned on getting this one back to _her_ Doctor as soon as possible, with no dragging of feet. He certainly would not appreciate someone else, an alternate version of himself or otherwise, gallivanting across the universe with _his _Rose, after all.

"What happened?"

She looked up at him with an expression that implied she had forgotten his presence for a moment.

"Starting from when?"

"The beginning? That's how you apes usually work."

She gave him an amused smile, and sat down on a nearby chair.

"I don't suppose this TARDIS has any tea?"

"She's not _that _ different." He moved further to lean casually against the console and fixed her with a level gaze. This was his universe, and they would be playing by his rules.

"Of course."

"I believe you had a story to tell me?"

She frowned for a moment. "Where's Jack?"

He blinked. _Jack? _"I haven't seen him since Satellite Five."

"Why?" She asked, her expression intense.

"I had to leave. He had a world to rebuild." He shrugged.

"You just _left _him?!"

"I'll thank you for not passing judgment on decisions you weren't around for!" He snapped back rather coldly, bristling "What's so important about Jack at the moment, anyway? If you're starting at the beginning then that'd likely be when you and your Doctor met. He didn't come in for months after that."

She looked genuinely surprised.

"You mean when you met her, your Rose, he wasn't there?"

"No!" He wrinkled his nose slightly at the thought of trying to withstand the ex-conman's attitude before he had Rose around to soften it "He came in _way _after that."

"Well then, I guess that's where the differences begin."

"I doubt it."

She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Do you want me to tell you or not?"

He sighed and nodded.

"Right then," she adjusted herself in her seat, before continuing "I was working in a department store when the Auton's attacked. I'd backed into a wall when he came out of nowhere- he grabbed my hand, grinned, and told me to run for my life."

"Pretty much the same, then."

She shrugged. "When we finally got a break to talk, he was all roguish charm, introducing himself, telling me that there was nothing to worry my 'pretty little head' about, that he an' the Doctor would handle things."

He should have expected it, from what she had said moments earlier, but he still found himself staring in bemusement at her.

"_Jack_?"

"Jack," She gave him a wry grin "I'm guessing it was you in this universe?"

He grunted. "Except I didn't try flirting my way into her pants."

"Skirt."

"Hmm?"

"It was a skirt."

He arched an eyebrow at her. Did that even matter? "Maybe I should get a chair."

She nodded slightly.

"Right, I get it, I'll summarize."

"Thanks. I've got universes to save, don't have all day." He was not entirely sure why he was being so short with her...it was just...

"So, after dad died, I didn't have anywhere to go," he realized that she had been continuing her tale through his musings "so Jack convinced my Doctor to let me come along. He didn't really want me to, said one was enough, didn't want things getting all 'domestic.'"

"Wait. After your dad died?" He frowned. But then, she was only six months old?

"Yeah. Dad. Pete," She said slowly, "you did bother to meet her family, didn't you?"

"Would have avoided it if I could," he snorted, "but this universe's Pete died when Rose was a baby."

"So it was her mother who died when you took her in?"

"No! That woman would have been far too stubborn to die."

She laughed slightly. "She died when I was a baby."

"Ah."

Rose shook her head, and frowned. "Was _anything _the same? Your Rose and Jack, before you abandoned him, they _were_ married, right?"

It was fortunate that he had not actually made them tea. If he had, he probably would have choked to death on it.

_**TBC…**_

---

AN: Gah. They do go on, don't they? I wanted to include more of her tale, but it was

getting a bit long.


	3. Concurrence

Author's Notes:

Disclaimer: Don't own DW. If I did, I mean, I'd at least make this an official novel or something.

AN: Bit of a hiatus there, consisting of hiding from the fic and such, as my mind is wont to do. But me back! Me back! And look, I haven't forgotten about Rose! (and I bet you thought I did :P)

Alright, so the lovely lady who betas this fic has been very busy, so I decided I'd use my own (bit rusty) pair of eyes for this chapter, so as not to bug her until she's got time again. Feel free to be harsh!

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_One Times Infinity_

**Chapter 2:_ Concurrence_**

She thought her heart had frozen, but perhaps it simply could not manage to beat properly while it was so constricted in her throat. Then again, it might never have been beating, since this was just a dreamworld anyway. How else could she have heard _him_ just now?

She might have pinched herself, but judging from the suddenly harsh pain in her chest, that would only add to her discomfort. It was a dream, it had to be a dream. A horrible, terrible, beautiful dream she never wanted to end. Tears already burned her eyes at the thought of how she would cry in the morning...

A firm, familiar hand squeezed her shoulder softly. "Rose?"

His voice was so soft, so full of care and love, and suddenly the tears could not be held at bay. It didn't matter if it was real or a dream, or who might stare at the spectacle, all that mattered was he was _here_. Warm, solid, real. And she could touch him. She could touch him.

It barely even registered to her that she had turned around and was now clutching to him for dear life, sobbing rather pitifully into his familiar pinstripe jacket. A soothing hand ran along her hair gently, and unintelligible murmured words of comfort seemed to pull her back to a semblance of calm just as surely as a mother's arms might an infant.

After a moment, the Doctor extricated himself from her grip, and turned her face up to look at his--presumably to explain how long and hard he had searched for something to come back, and then how he eventually compromised his great principals, and threw caution to the wind to sweep her away, because he couldn't stand being alone any longer. Or maybe...

Her cheeks warmed up slightly as her eyes met his.

Maybe he would finish what he was going to say the last time they had met.

He frowned down at her in silence a moment, before a look of sadness--it couldn't be disappointment, could it?--passed across his face, and his hands fell from her shoulders.

"Doctor?" Her stomach twisted unpleasantly, what could be wrong?

He gave a small regretful smile, speaking just as softly as before. Only this time the words did anything but warm her heart. "Not yours."

Curious how her cheeks could be so wet yet her throat so dry. Not that she was very interested in the world's wonders at this moment. How could she properly process anything when she could not even decide just what she was feeling at the moment? It was such a confusing chaos of emotions...and none of them were good. One thing was certain, however...the cold reality of this impossible situation meant only one thing.

This was no dream.

"Not...mine?" It was all she could manage, really. What could he mean? Why was he so sad now? Was this...was this the Doctor of this universe? _No..._ There was no Rose in this universe, he could not have known her. Then...did he mean he had...

She could not bear to finish the thought.

"I'm not the Doctor you know." He said simply. "And you're not the Rose I was looking for."

She blinked, mind finally beginning to work around the overwhelming wash of emotions that had swallowed her. "You mean...you're from another world--another Earth? Not this one nor the one I came from?"

His expression had smoothed to simply a serious frown, and he nodded.

"Where..." She licked her now dry lips. "Where is she? Is she here somewhere?"

He frowned and glaced over the crowd. "No. No...not if you are here."

"But...I'm not originally from here, maybe--"

He shook his head. "That's not how it works. No more than one or two a universe. Any more and things would destabilize."

Her eyes widened slightly. "There isn't a Rose in this universe! Maybe yours is after all! Do...how did you get here?"

"I could ask you the same and get a similar answer, I think." He smiled at her, it was a shallower smile than her Doctor, but she couldn't help smiling back at him just a bit. "She was pulled away, and I never let go of her hand. When it seemed like we would both perish in the void, there was a light, and here I am."

Again the smile, wider this time. Was she closing her eyes to hide from the smile, or to prevent the horrifying memory of that day from resurfacing? Even she did not know.

"You..." She swallowed softly. "You were pulled in, too? Why didn't you stay put?"

"What? You mean let her go and save myself?" He frowned, then grinned. "I'd sooner die."

"But..your universe! It needed you!" She was not certain exactly why she was yelling at the increasingly confused looking Time Lord in the middle of the street, with people staring in concern or irritation as they passed. All she was certain was that the lump in her throat that had never fully gone away was getting hard to ignore, almost hard to breathe around.

Unbidden, images of his diminishing face, of his hand reaching futilely far away from her. What if he had let go to reach for her? She had never dared to let herself consider it before. It was a silly thought, child's fantasy. The universe needed him...it needed him to live more than her, that was the cold fact, and she accepted it. But here, staring her in the face was the _real_ truth. Just like Sarah Jane had been. He _could_ have let go. He had a choice. And he didn't choose her.

Her lips formed a thin line as she fought an increasingly hopeless battle for composure, but her mind wouldn't rest...wouldn't give up until she crumpled under its assault.

And if he _had_? They would have both been caught by Pete, they would be together right now. There would have been no goodbye. He would have finished what he was going to say. Wouldn't he? Couldn't he? Why _didn't_ he?

"Rose?" Hands gripped her shoulders gently again.

"Don't..." She shook her head. "Please don't call me that."

He arched an eyebrow. "And what should I call you? Miss Tyler?"

"I don't care...just please..." She sighed, and shook her head.

"I'm sorry...whatever happened."

"It's...it's okay." She smiled up at him. "He...you both made the choice you had to make."

He only frowned.

"What about her?"

A ghost of the previous sadness crossed his expression. "I don't know. She wasn't with me once I arrived...I was hoping I could find her if I looked around...but its been days. If she were here, I would have found her."

"Days?" Her eyes widened slightly, mind recalling suddenly the assignment she was presently _supposed_ to be working on. "_Four_ days?"

He gave a slight smile. "Torchwood?"

In spite of herself, she grinned. "Shop wasn't hiring."

The grin that bloomed across his face was so familiar she could have sworn this _had_ to be _her_ Doctor. Even through the small differences she was beginning to notice, like the slight shagginess of his hair that her Doctor would diligently cut, the more pronounced ears that were remniscent of his last regeneration, and the set that leaned toward muscular rather than lean. Apparently his grin was always the same, no matter what universe.

It was all she could do not to hug him back with her everything when he suddenly enveloped her in his arms and spoke with such glowing pride. "There's the Rose Tyler I know! Defender of the Earth, she is!"

She laughed slightly. He was so similar it was either she laugh or she cry. "At least I don't have to look forward to another fruitless afternoon investigating that explosion."

He pulled away just to arms-length, grinnning down at her. "Does that mean you're off for the afternoon? Because if it does, I've been craving a cup of tea for _days_."

She couldn't resist returning his grin, if a bit hesitantly. "I've got a fresh pot at home."

"Then lead the way, Miss Tyler!" He said grandly.

She frowned slightly, chewing her bottom lip a moment. "Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Call me Rose."

He smiled.

_**TBC** _

--

AN: There we go! A bit shorter this time, I know, but I'm more trying to establish the pace of both sides here at the moment.

And about that harsh thing...:P Give Rose a bit of space with her emotions, she'll settle down once she gets over the whole overwhelming shock of it all.

-Yusagi


	4. Anamnesis

Disclaimer: Nothing owned, nothing gained, nothing to lose.

AN: It's been such a long time, but I just had to come back to my original series. Cause I've been running so much from all my other ones, inevitably I would have to run into this one.

Thanks to **spastasmagoria** for betaing this train wreck. ;p

-

_One Times Infinity_

**_Chapter Four: Anamnesis_**

_"Your Rose and Jack...before you abandoned him...they were married, right?"_

She laughed at whatever expression crossed his face at her words, and shook her head. "For some reason I expected the universe to be more similar."

He frowned, collecting himself. "There's no reason to-you're lucky this Earth even has an atmosphere with the necessary gasses to sustain you."

"I figured it would end up in the same place we had fallen through before, actually." She countered. "Being as it had to be the universe closest to mine, right?"

He sighed. Humans and their stubborn inability to understand multiversal spacial mechanics. No doubt her Doctor had explained something relevant to that to her when she had still been in her universe (Or even when they had taken their own little multiversal trip). "Universes are not as simply stacked together as houses or...or even countries. Interversal travel is far more complex than any of your simple transportation could translate to."

She rolled her eyes. "I know, I _know_. Some things clearly don't change no matter the universe."

He snorted. "Apparently not."

She nodded, grinning, and fell into an amicable silence. Her lingering smile seemed to soften the lines on her face, and undo years of weathering. In fact, if he kept staring at it, he might find himself forgetting that this was not _his_ Rose...she wasn't even any Doctor's Rose at all. And that wouldn't do.

"So things definitely went differently for you..." He cut into the silence without prelude, nodding slightly to his words. "But how _exactly_ did you end up _here_?"

She looked up at him with a solemn frown for a few moments, before speaking. "I still don't know much more than what I read in those books, and what you-that is, he-had told me about it the time before, which is to say just what he bothered to divulge while running."

"What about Torchwood's involvement in it?"

"Like I said, I have no idea." She waved a dismissive hand at him, before sighing and sitting back in her seat. "I suppose I should start from when the TARDIS was sucked out of the Vortex due to some...oh, whatsit? Sub spacial anomaly? Basically a disturbance in time, space, and reality. A sort of..." She moved her hands ineffectually, fighting for an adequate description, or the memory of one. "...Weakness in the wall between my universe and another. That's it. The fluctuations coming from it were spider webbing through the vortex like tiny...TARDIS speed-bumps. Except we ran into one fault line that was so big it caused us to 'jump the tracks', so to speak."

He couldn't help an amused smirk, Jack or no, she still seemed to enjoy taking his simplified knowledge and using it as her own to impress. But ripping the TARDIS out of mid-flight? "The tear must have been much worse in your universe to cause that."

She shrugged. "I wouldn't know, but like I said...it tore us out of the vortex, and sent us careening into the streets of London. The crash wasn't much rougher than most of our planned 'landings'." She gave a soft chuckle, but her eyes had a far-off look in them, as if she were watching the event play out as she spoke. "We got out of it with a few bumps and scratches, and you-he was just collecting himself enough to go and check to see what caused the crash when..."

Her blue eyes hardened, as her gaze turned to the ceiling, and her lips pressed into a thin line to quell the sudden tremble that had snuck into her voice.

His throat felt unecessarily tight and unusually dry as tears fought for the right to fall across her sculpted cheekbones. You'd think it would be a simple thing to separate her from his, stranger from Rose...but the longer he heard her, the more he watched her, the harder it was to keep convincing himself he couldn't hold her tight, smile, and make all her pain go away-or that he shouldn't _want_ to.

Curious blue eyes not quite so cold caught his attention away from his own distracting musings, and he forced himself to nod noncommittally toward her. She returned the nod with as little conviction.

"The damage was worse than we realized." She sighed. "We didn't even get a chance to realize what was going on before everything just...shattered."

He frowned in confusion. Why must humans always use such generalizations? "Everything?"

She shrugged. "Time. Space. Us. Reality. Everything." Whatever she had been watching in her mind faded, as she pinned him with an intense gaze. "Reality shredded itself into tiny pieces, and were sent plummeting into nothingness without a hope of survival."

The silence after her words was palpable, and despite his efforts he could feel his gut twisting at the thought that what had happened had clearly been exactly what he had warned Hartman and Pete against. But how had they survived that? How was she standing here now? If that was what happened, they should have all died.

She was smirking at him, as if she could read his thoughts. "Aren't you going to ask me how I survived, then? You, or he, seemed to think there was no hope for those few seconds that the TARDIS control room could survive. He said...Something forced its way through one universe into another, ours, and its travel had left an unstable web of cracks-like a plate window."

"But that shouldn't have caused a collapse by itself."

"It didn't." She said, frowning. "Something else came through, as well. Something huge, something that should have never come through for any reason, something that metaphorically was bigger than the hole."

It made sense that it would not be simply the Daleks, Cybermen, and Preachers in every universe, but...few things could fit such a description in any universe. "What was it?"

She shook her head. "He never said. He was too busy trying to keep what was left of the universe together-most of it was still unraveling, like yarn ripped out of a jumper, and not yet unraveled."

He nodded. If they had been able to salvage the situation, and the TARDIS had shielded them, it explained how they had survived...but how she was _here_, and if the damage had come through...

"Jack and I couldn't do anything but stand there and watch, as we rode the tail end of the universe, always impossibly close to nothingness, as he struggled to staunch the wound of the universe before there wasn't anything left to heal." Her knuckles gripped the arms of her chair, and her cheeks flushed with the memory, as her voice fought between despair and detached retelling. "It was horrible, terrifying...I wanted to believe everything would be alright, that you could fix it, and things would go back to normal, the Earth would exist...and then Jack just...disappeared. Like he never existed. The Doctor said the TARDIS was failing under the strain, that her protection had failed Jack...and.."

She fell silent, eyes closing, and it took every last shred of control to turn away from her to the console, and force himself to send the TARDIS away into the Vortex, instead of doing something he knew he would regret. He really was a coldhearted bastard.

"We had to keep going, though, too many people, too much, depended on us-on him." Her voice was distinctively cold as she picked back up her story, eyes yet closed. "And continue he did, working out a way to stop it, to save everyone. I still remember his victory whoop. It was the last thing I heard before the console room was ripped in half and I was sent hurtling into nothingness."

She opened her eyes. "And then I woke up here."


	5. Alliance

Disclaimer: Dear lord, I think I'd still be watching the series if I owned it.

AN: So, I think its been six months or so since I updated, pretty much fell out of the fandom, but here is me-trying to get back into it.

-

_One Times Infinity_

**Chapter Five: _Alliance_**

She chewed her lower lip, as she picked up the pot from the stove, and poured two cups, nearly spilling one all over the counter. She caught his gaze, and flashed him a quick smile, before using a hunt for silverware to turn her back on him.

It was strange, sitting across from him, reaching for a hand, only to find it didn't quite fit. It wasn't right, seeing him staring into the distance over a woman that was her, but not she.

_My Doctor would never stop to reminisce, not even about me. I know him. He probably doesn't even think about me anymore. That's how it is, isn't it?_

She closed her eyes to halt her thought process, and carried the teacups out to the living room, handing the Doctor-the New-but-not-Doctor-one of them. He nodded gratefully as she settled down into the couch, and took a swig of the tea.

"So." She said finally, mentally cursing her clumsy social skills. They had rusted a bit, after lurking behind a desk and preferring not to speak to anyone over the past three months.

"So?" He raised his eyebrows.

"The explosion."

"Ah yes. That was me. Sorry."

"So that was..."

"My unfortunate arrival." He finished with a nod. "Couldn't exactly decide where it'd happen, you know."

She nodded. "What are you going to do now?"

He frowned. "Well, no use sticking around here anymore. Course, it'd be easier to leave if I had the _TARDIS_..." A flash of regret passed though his expression. "But...there are still ways...well, that is..."

He fixed her with a hopeful gaze. "If you don't mind lending a hand?"

She blinked. "What can I do?" _Not you, Torchwood._

He gave her a rakish grin. "If I got here, then there must be a way out of here. There are always ways to get back through."

"But wouldn't you only be able to get back to your original universe, even if you could get through?"

"Nonsense! What lies between this universe and the next?"

"The void." She replied automatically. Her Doctor had taught her that long ago, long before he had been ripped away from her.

"Exactly!" He nodded triumphantly. "The Void isn't any different, no matter which universe you go through. Why? Because its the same one! Its linking us all together in an invisible framework! Once you get to the _Void_ you can get to anywhere connected to it."

"But...he sealed it..."

"One entrance, maybe. But a universe has many dimensions, and if you know what you're doing, there's a way to get into every single one of them." He raised his eyebrows expectantly.

She tried not to show it, really, because she wasn't obsessed with getting back home...but it would be mad not to try, when an impossible opportunity was provided to you, wouldn't it? "So, you could go anywhere?"

"_Well_...theoretically." He shrugged off the suggestion. "But without a proper vehicle,you couldn't stay in the Void for very long-and without specific quardinates, you're basically shooting in the dark. But it's moving!"

"What exactly do you need?"

"Oh, just some bits and bobs. Nothing difficult. Amazing how that works out."

She narrowed her eyes slightly. It was easy to fall into the old pattern of excited guesswork, to smile back at him, and work toward a new impossible goal. But, the fact was...this was not her Doctor. She was not his Rose, and after she opened the Void for him, he would probably give her a cheery goodbye.

But she couldn't bring herself to actually _say_ that just yet...because...

He was smiling at her again, like he'd known her forever, like she should have known him forever.

"Course..." He said with a shrug. "Can't leave someone like you here. You're out of place. Need to get back to your own universe-your own Doctor. I'm sure he misses you."

Oh. She was much too easy.

"What do you need me to do?"

He gave a mad grin. "I think it'll be easier to _show_ you what I need."

She arched a bemused eyebrow. "And how do you expect to get through Torchwood's security?"

"Well...I think that's the first place you can lend a hand."

She smiled slightly. "I'm always happy to offer a hand."

He leaned forward, and reached out a hand. She didn't need to hear him say anything, to take it in her own. It didn't fit quite right, it wasn't that easy grip she was so used to chasing trouble with-but his firm, calloused hands fit well enough for now.

"Nice to meet you, Rose Tyler."


	6. Nascency

Disclaimer: No. Just. No.

AN: Wow. I am _so_ rusty at ficcing, and moreso at DW fic...but I couldn't resist picking this one back up. Mostly because of all the parallels I found between the finale and what I had planned for this. Naturally, I won't go into what parts were similar, but anyone who's seen it should be able to find a few of the similarities in the fic already.

So...forgive me for rubbish writing, but at least I'm writing, right?

-

_One Times Infinity_

**Chapter 6: _Nascency_**

_"We had to keep going, though, too many people, too much, depended on us – on him." Her voice was distinctively cold as she picked up her story, eyes closed. "And continue he did, working out a way to stop it, to save everyone. I still remember his victory whoop. It was the last thing I heard before the console room was ripped in half and I was sent hurtling into nothingness."_

She opened her eyes. "And then I woke up here."

He sighed softly, leaning against the console, staring blankly ahead at the information scrolling across the screen before him. Silence filled the room so completely that he half expected they couldn't have spoken even if they wanted to. Not that he could honestly blame Rose for choosing not to say a word.

She'd been through so much in such a short period of time. He couldn't help that blazing admiration that swelled in his chest at the thought of how well she was coping with all of it. Pure human tenacity, that was – different universe or not. Even if Rose hadn't, he needed the time to think. To figure out what was going on, how it related to this universe... and what to do with this Rose.

She was the one to break the stalemate in the end.

"It's coming, you know."

He glanced over his shoulder wordlessly.

"Whatever that was... it's moving. He – you – figured that much out in the time he had left. Whatever destroyed my universe wasn't aiming for it.

"There's nothing I can do." He turned back toward the console with a frown, twisting knobs and levers with vigour. "Universal walls are sealed now. Whatever surge of energy allowed you to come here is gone. Can't do anything about that. Not now." He shrugged. "Couldn't go anywhere even if I knew what it was."

He felt her moving closer more than heard it. "So... what? You're just gonna ignore it? Pretend it didn't happen?"

"There's nothing I can do!" He turned a cold glare up at her. "Your world is gone... your entire universe is gone, and there's nothing I can do about it. Universes die every single minute, every single second, every nanosecond! I'm just sorry it had to be yours – I really am."

"That's it then?" Her dark eyes hardened with anger and hurt. "You say that you're sorry and I'm supposed to just...what? Travel with you now?"

"No." He frowned up at her. Never. He couldn't... wouldn't take that. _She_ wasn't his Rose, and he wasn't her Doctor. It wasn't right. It would only cause more pain for everyone involved.

Her eyebrows arched in challenge. "You just gonna drop me off, then? Cos I swear to you, I'm not gonna give up. I'll find a way."

"There is no way." He disengaged from the vortex with a fierce yank on a lever that needed tightening, and walked resolutely to the door, shoving it open to reveal a decently furnished flat. He'd had plans for it once-lifetimes ago. "It's paid up the next...oh, five years. 1967. Good year, that."

For a few long moments, cold eyes regarded him with a betrayal he had seen only once before, before the woman named Rose shook her head. "You're nothing like him, you know. My Doctor would have never given up."

His grip on the wooden door tightened until his nails carved arcs into it. "Get out. Now."

Her mouth tightened into a thin line, and she walked out of the TARDIS without a word.

-

He was smiling like an idiot. He was smiling like a complete geek, taking in the sights of Torchwood tower, and she was trying desperately not to copy him. A high-ranking Torchwood executive did not escort a guest through highly classified sections of the building while grinning like a loon. She'd given him several significant looks, and even a few half-hearted jabs, but he'd just looked down at her innocently, shot off a quip, and gone back to the damn infectious grinning.

Still, they were making progress. They had three of the four bits and bobs that he'd need. She wasn't entirely certain what they did, and if it were anyone else, she'd have wondered how he'd known they'd had any of it at all. Most of it was salvaged alien tech they hadn't identified yet.

They only had one more destination. This one was less a bit of the engine than the body of the automobile, or so she'd gathered from his hasty explanations. It was also the only one they couldn't carry around, given that it was nearly the size of a room. And really, unless they were shrinking it somehow, she was a bit sceptical about how they planned on getting anywhere else after the initial jump.

She managed to make it to the final room with only a few uncontrolled lip twitches that she staunchly determined were little more than muscle spasms. A quick wave of a security card and a few words saw them ushered into the room, inhabited by a lone scientist.

The slim woman turned in surprise at their entrance, absently smoothing her white lab coat. "Miss Tyler! I wasn't told I'd be having help today."

"Nah, that's because it was spur of the moment!" The Doctor spoke before Rose could quite get any words out, offering his hand toward the woman. "More fun that way."

"Ah...if you say so, Mr...?"

"Smith." Rose smiled quickly, covering her brief hesitation at the name with a step forward. "Doctor John Smith. John, this is our head scientist of this project, Adeola Jones."

The woman flushed slightly. "If by 'head' you mean 'only'..." She gave a slight, wry smile, turning toward the large metallic structure that dominated the room. "I think calling it a 'project' might be a bit of a stretch. I still have to figure out whether it does anything before it can be classified a 'project'."

"Oh... no, no, no, this is brilliant!" He squinted his eyes, burying his hands in his pockets and taking a few steps closer toward the dormant machine. For a few heartbeats, Rose was certain he'd withdraw his favourite pair of glasses to inspect the machine. She wasn't entirely sure whether she was relieved when he did nothing but run his hand over his chin in consideration.

"Excuse me?" Adeola frowned, studying the Doctor a few moments, before glancing at the machine again. "Are you telling me you know what this does?"

"Oh yeah..." The Doctor glanced over toward Rose, and she could have sworn it was him looking back at her, instead of another who had been telling her about another Rose's exploits only hours ago. "Rose, would you bring those other pieces here?"

"So you can do it?" Rose figured it was a pointless question, considering his cheer, but it was still hard to believe that it was possible. After her Doctor had been so adamant, so final. Could it really be this simple to go all this time?

His grin was almost blinding as she handed the assorted equipment over to him. "Just watch me."  
Ch End


	7. Volitionem

Disclaimer: There are many things I'd do differently if I owned DW.

AN: A quick update! For once! I blame watching too much DW.

-

_One Times Infinity_

**Chapter Seven: _Volitionem_**

It had been a week, give or take, since he'd dropped off Rose... the cold, battle-hardened Rose from another universe. Of course, time didn't exactly pass the same way on the TARDIS, but it worked well enough as a generalisation. He didn't need simplifying himself – he was fully capable of comprehending every subtlety of time. After nearly a millennium simplifying it for those who couldn't, .it was a hard habit to break.

He needn't worry about breaking it, really. Sooner or later he'd find himself saddled with another human whether or not he really wanted it. Or perhaps not... there was always a K-9 mark 3 or even 4. Whatever, really. The point was that he could do with a change of pace. K-9 was always a good, faithful companion, without any ape-like human complications. If the worst came to the worst, he could always pack it away into storage, too. Couldn't exactly do that with a human, now, could you? Well you could, but there'd be those darn tricky complications coming up again

He sighed, turning away from the readings on the monitor, and flipping several switches on the console. The problem with having such an overwhelmingly superior brain was that it was so much more difficult to bury oneself in work than it would be for a human. Not that he was doing anything of the sort – he had no reason to. He would have just liked some simple, uncomplicated adventuring. Perhaps exploring a few remote outposts, uncovering a few corrupt systems, and running for his lives. Lots of good running.

Of course, it wasn't as much fun running without a familiar hand to hold, but he could deal with it. It wasn't the first time he'd travelled alone, and it would hardly be the last. That much was certain. In the end, he'd spent more time travelling alone than he had with anyone else - he'd accepted that a long time ago. It didn't bother him anymore. Not at all.

His thoughts were interrupted by the small phone ringing on the console. He frowned, and shifted the TARDIS to a neutral position in the Vortex before picking up the ringing, singing phone. A clear, familiar voice chimed in his ear.

"Thought I saw a mobile there." Rose's voice sounded smug, but the coldness from before was stronger than ever. "I wonder how long it's been for you. Hours? Minutes? Still pretending none of it happened?"

"What do you want?" He gritted his teeth in an effort not to hang up the phone. "How are you calling me?"

"You're not the only one with universal roaming, Doctor."

"The number."

"Not as easy as you might think. Especially in this time." The voice paused, before continuing. "I'm sure you have important things to do, so I won't waste your time. I just thought it'd be rude to hitch another ride without saying goodbye."

He gripped the console with his free hand. "What are you talking about?"

"You refuse to see the truth? Fine." Another pause and the sound of a passing automobile. "Y'know, London's got more non-functional blue police boxes than you'd think in 1967. Still...how many can fit three comfortably and have room to spare for a dematerialization circuit? Gotta say, though, suit jacket and tartan trousers really don't work for you."

"You can't." He ground his teeth in frustration. If he thought it were possible, he would assume she had made it up but it simply wasn't possible. Regardless of how unlikely it was for her to have actually found one of his past regenerations, it was even more unlikely for her to have guessed what one looked like. She was just stubborn enough for him to believe the first. "You travelled with me – or a version, at least. You know what comes from interfering with time lines!"

"I'm not a part of this time line, Doctor. Not this time, not this universe. I'm not even born yet."

"It doesn't matter. You are a part of it now and he – I am too."

"I've got nothin' to lose, Doctor. I have nothing! This isn't even my world – even if it were, no one I knew is even born yet."

"If you understand regeneration then you know no matter how different he looks, he's still me. The answer's still the same."

"Maybe. You really wanna test me? Whether or not it works, it'll do something yeah? Because I'll tell him everything Doctor."

His nails dug harshly into the console in front of him. "Don't you dare."

"I don't have a choice."

"There's always a choice."

Her voice was smug but somehow broken, "So choose."

-

"That looks ridiculous." Rose shook her head in disbelief. The structure looked like some sort of satirical modern art sculpture.

He offered her a lop-sided smile. "I'll have you know vacuums look more ridiculous than this."

Adeola seemed to be torn between fascination and incredulousness. "But that's not possible."

"Oh no? And you're so sure?" The Doctor turned to give the woman a sceptical look, before grinning. "Wanna come with and see for yourself?"

"Oh no, I couldn't..."

"Awww, c'mon. It'll be fun. Completely different universe! No idea what could be out there."

"But Torchwood..."

"Oh, you'll be back before supper. Promise." He winked, glancing over toward Rose with a wry grin.

A small grin grew across Adeola's expression and she shifted her weight nervously. "Well... I suppose..."

He practically bounced up and down. If he had a tail, Rose would have called him Tigger, "All right then! Shall we, Jones and Tyler?"

Rose jumped suddenly "Mum!" She lifted a hand toward the suddenly confused Doctor, pulling her mobile out of her pocket. "Just... give us a minute. I can't leave without tellin' her..."

His expression grew sombre. "We can go see her, if you want."

"No... no." She bit her lip, flipping the phone open. "I made my choice before. She understands that. It'll just be that much harder."

He didn't say a word but he didn't need to. His expression conveyed how selfish she already knew she was being. She was glad for his silence, though. She wasn't certain she could have gone through with it if he'd spoken the words. She didn't belong here and he belonged with his Rose. If there were anything she could do, then she would.

She almost lost her voice when her mother's voice came over the line.

"Mum...?"

There was silence on the other side of the phone for a few moments. "Rose...? Rose, what's wrong? What's happened?"

She swallowed.

"It's... it's nothing Mum... I just... I love you, Mum. You know that, right?"

More silence. "Oh...God. It's him, isn't it? Rose, it's the Doctor – he's here, isn't he?"

"Mum... I'm sorry. I've got to go." He was still watching her, and she could feel Adeola's eyes on her as well. She willed just a bit of the strength in his eyes to absorb into her. "He needs me, Mum."

"You'll be back."

She smiled softly. "Course I will. Soon as we're done." She chewed her lip. "Won't even know I'm gone."

"Course not." Rose could hear the resignation in her voice through the phone.

"You'll tell Mickey?"

"I will, promise. Now get going, you."

"Love you, Mum." She snapped the phone shut and stared down at it for several long moments. She forced a bright smile, and turned back to where the Doctor was leaning against the machine. "We ready?"

He nodded after a moment, and flipped the switch near where his hand rested against the structure.

The machine vibrated loudly and pulsed with a bright white light for a few seconds as the Doctor backed away from it with a wide grin. This was magnificent.

"Oh, I love this part!" He turned his grin toward her, and offered her a hand.

She had no sooner reached out and took the rough hand in hers before the light exploded off of the awkward looking device in a sudden shockwave. Adeola gave a startled yelp, as they were knocked back into the nearby wall, and a brilliant slash of colour formed through the air, slowly broadening into a shimmering circle the size of the machine.

"So..." He glanced between Rose and Adeola with an excited smile. "Ready?"


	8. Ratiocination

Disclaimer: Need I say? I'm flattered you'd think it was mine, though.

AN: OMG GUYS LOOK I UPDATED!

-

_One Times Infinity_

**Chapter Eight: _Ratiocination_**

She honestly expected more. Some sort of surreal spinning tunnel or a moment of disembodiment, like the Preacher's teleportation devices, but when they stepped through the 'portal', there was only a flash of light, and she found herself finishing her step on ground suddenly uneven. If she hadn't been holding on to the Doctor's hand, she might have stumbled and fell.

Might meaning most likely once she saw where they landed. The Powell Estate. Pete's World, the other universe, had no Powell Estate—it was one long shopping mall, for the most part, and a few token parks. The familiar sight made her stomach lurch in a way that couldn't decide whether it was pleasant or unpleasant. Fortunately, she didn't have long to dwell on it before Adeola broke the temporary silence.

"This is...amazing." The young scientist took a few steps forward and made a slow circle in place. "We're really in another universe?"

"_Completely_ different!" He grinned like a madman, hands dug into his pockets, but there was a distance in his eyes, as he scanned the area for something. For signs of his Rose? Of where they'd gone?

"S'pose we ought to go looking around, then?" She nudged him gently with an elbow, drawing his attention away from whatever he sought. "See what we can find?"

He smiled down at her briefly, before taking a step forward, and gesturing toward the sky, spinning on his heel. "A whole new universe to see before suppertime!"

Adeola, who'd wandered a few more steps forward, glanced back at the Doctor. "Where do we start?"

He pointed to a distant spot on the road. "I was thinking over there." Before waiting for an answer, he started right in that direction, long strides taking him along fast enough that Rose had to pick up her pace just to keep up with him. Not that she minded, all that much, there wasn't much she could figure out just standing around in a home which wasn't hers anymore.

Could this be hers? How would they know? How could they find his Rose if she were there? Had she _really_ just left her mother's universe, with little guarantee she'd ever return, and told her over _mobile_?

Adeola's sound of surprise snapped Rose back from her thoughts, and she had to stifle one of her own. Not two feet before her, a TARDIS stood. The Doctor stood with one palm flat against the door and something like a nostalgic smile on his face. But where had it come from? She was certain the street was empty before...

"Doctor..."

"She's retreated into herself, made herself unknown so she can fade away in peace." There was sadness in his voice, and she suddenly connected the expression on his face. It wasn't nostalgia or even sympathy. It was that pained expression the Doctor tried to hide whenever the TARDIS suffered worse than an average crash, or the time it suffered through polluted time in the vortex. He felt the TARDIS' pain.

More than that, she knew why. Where the TARDIS sat, what he said, she held a memory all too distinctly the same as this one. She turned, then, to look for her alternate universe duplicate. She didn't exactly sit around for long before she'd returned to the TARDIS. If they'd ended up in the past, they wouldn't have much time to wait around before they might get a clue whether the Doctor's Rose were here.

"She won't be coming."

Rose glanced up at him, frowning. "What?"

He nodded down the road she'd come from long ago. "She's not walking down that road. It's been four years since the TARDIS landed. I can feel how weakened she's gotten. In fact..." He turned, and jiggled the handle a moment, before the door swung inward. Grim satisfaction lined his smile when he glanced up at her. "Her pilot's long gone. She's on her last gasps. But I can help."

She followed after him, lingering in the doorway as he walked into the unnaturally dark console room. Adeola stood to the left, peering into the ship with a calculating expression that questioned just how she could be seeing so much room in a police box. Rose didn't feel particularly in the mood for explanations. "You can help her?"

He knelt underneath the console rather than looking up. "Of course I can, if I can jump her psychic connection properly, give her a start, and enough time to recover...she could be as healthy as ever."

She couldn't help a soft smile. Of course he'd help the TARDIS. He'd never let his ship go if he could help it...and now it seemed he was a Time Lord without a TARDIS, who'd just met a TARDIS without her Time Lord. But there was a pressing question, still. "What happened?"

He bounced down the steps of the ship, so full of energy he nearly startled her. She _did_ startle when the sunlight caught his eyes. Blue. His eyes were the same icy blue as the first face her Doctor had worn when she'd met him. How hadn't she seen that before?

He nodded over her shoulder and smiled. "This will take awhile. Why don't you show Miss Jones around? Might get a few of those answers you're looking for just asking the right people." He glanced back at her then, and smiled. "We'll be here when you get back."

She worried her bottom lip a moment, and glanced between Adeola and the Doctor. She missed the TARDIS almost as much as she missed the Doctor. As terribly sad as the darkened interior looked, she still wanted to _be_ there. She missed the humming of the ship under her hands, that imperceptible sense of company and belonging the tiny telepathic connection the TARDIS brought, that she hadn't noticed until that last crack closed.

She missed it all, but she wouldn't be much help for the Doctor in fixing whatever was wrong, and there were answers they needed. What happened to the TARDIS? Where was the Doctor, or the Rose, of this universe? Was his Rose here?

And she knew she couldn't just let Adeola wander on her own in a strange universe.

She smiled after a moment, and nodded. This was a Doctor who'd let go of his own lever, forsaken his own universe and almost his own life, just for a chance to stay with his Rose. She could believe him when he said he'd still be here when she got back. "You'd better be. Cos I _will_ be back."

He grinned, and shooed her off, before shutting the TARDIS door with a click. Briefly, she wondered if her key would work in the lock, before she turned toward her current companion.

"So! Miss Jones? Shall we go and have a look around?"

It was strange, really. Even though the streets she walked were familiar, achingly so, it was as exhilarating as looking at that doorway was, as it would be to travel in the TARDIS across planets again. Moreso, because _now_, after what felt like a lifetime, she was finally on her way back home. A part of her hoped her mother understood why, in the heat of the moment, she hadn't thought to do more than ring.

When she found her Doctor again, she'd ask this one to take them back to her other universe, just for a short while, so she could say goodbye to her mother _properly_. And maybe, just maybe, they'd find a way to make it through universes as safely as this, but guided enough that it didn't need to be goodbye after all.

She glanced up at the young woman walking next to her. "Bit different this place, yeah? This is closer to my world."

"I wonder how many things are different..."

"Don't know..." She shook her head, and dug her hands into her pockets, scanning the familiar walls of the Powell Estate. "Could be all sorts of things. Must be. Every universe is based on choices. Different choices make different universes. They could have a Prime Minister in this Britain, could be they've got a _King_, even. People we know might never have been born." Briefly, she wondered if that were the problem. Maybe she'd never been born.

Adeola nodded, "People could have been born who _weren't_, too."

She glanced up, curious. "Someone you're thinkin' of specifically?" Honestly, she didn't know enough about the young scientist to know what her family was like, or if she had a love life outside of work. In retrospect, she felt a bit of shame at that. She hadn't paid any more attention at work than she needed to. She hadn't paid much attention to _anything_.

For a moment, she wondered if the woman would answer her, but then Adeola gave a small smile. "My Aunt. When I was a kid, she went out to celebrate her fifth anniversary with my Uncle, and took a posh Zepplin tour across the ocean. It stalled out halfway across." A faint expression of sadness passed her face, but vanished before Rose could reach out to her. "It was that or a trip to the super casino in Blackpool. Could be in another universe, she'd have liked that better."

Rose did reach out then, touching the woman's shoulder, and offering a sympathetic smile. "Could be, yeah."

Before anything else could be said, a familiar voice spoke up. One she honestly hadn't thought she'd ever hear again. "_Rose Tyler_? Oh my God, it _is_ you!" The smile on her old best mate's face quickly faded to a frown as she approached. "You haven't been answerin' my calls!"

"I'm sorry, Shareen, I've been...busy, yeah?" She offered the woman a hopeful smile. If anyone would know outside of Mickey or her mother what happened—at least in a vague, roundabout sort of way—this woman ought to, if not Keisha. But if the TARDIS were abandoned, it was possible Keisha would have had no reason to be in the loop at all.

"Busy for _six months_, and now you just pop in here again without warning? What's gotten in to you? First you take up travelin' all over creation _and forget to ring even once_, and then y'just up and _leave_ with your Mum and Jackie and do you think t'say a word to me at _all_?" Shareen's hands were firmly planted on her hips, and she seemed gradually charging toward critical mass. Not unlike she'd expect her own Shareen to react.

If she didn't believe she'd died.

Rose swallowed quickly, and waved her hands to head the woman off. "I know, I know, and I'm _sorry_, I just. Needed to get away." Apparently. She bit her lip. "For...six months. And now I just needed to see a familiar place, yeah?"

Shareen briefly seemed unconvinced, but then there was a flash of sympathy in her eyes. "You had to get away for a year and a half? That bloke of yours, who was travelin' with you..."

Adeola spoke up this time. "You two are mates, then?"

Shareen glanced over as if that were the first time she'd noticed Rose wasn't alone. "You'd better believe it. Best mates from childhood we are, not that you'd know it the way she acts half the time."

"I said I'm sorry, yeah? And anyway, I'm here now." Rose frowned slightly, before nodding toward the scientist. "Shareen, this is Adeola Jones, she's a...co-worker of mine."

"You've got a job now?"

"Miss Jones, this is Shareen Costello, an old mate of mine."

"Oi, watch who you're callin' _old_, you're two years my senior." Shareen huffed, but shook her head, dismissing the subject. "Right. You two and me, we're having chips, and you're going to explain to me what you've been doing and where you've been working. No protests!"

Maybe that's why, amongst all the other reasons, they'd managed to stay best mates so long. No matter what, Shareen could bounce back from anything that happened, and go on like it hadn't at all.

Maybe she could even handle the truth this time.

–

He knew exactly how long he'd stood at the console fuming, after he'd hung up. She _wouldn't_ change his past. She couldn't. It wasn't that easy to interfere with a Time Lord's past, and...and he was still connected to Gallifrey at that point, still protected by the things he disdained at the time. One human girl, even Rose, couldn't change it with a few words.

But she'd reshaped history and the universe with two, and this Rose...this Rose was a remnant, shielded by her own Doctor's last act, rogue in this universe and this time, and from a point of history where there was no Gallifrey any longer. He'd left her in a weak point, and they both knew it. He'd only expected her never to recognize his earlier selves, never to go looking, and to just accept the life he presented her with, the only thing he could offer her.

In retrospect he really should have known better, but he couldn't say he felt affection over that this time.

He would stop her, even if she _was_ a Rose. She was right, he had choices, but none of them were any good for either of them.

Because he couldn't help her. Even if he wanted to, even if her world weren't already lost completely, he _couldn't_ help her. The walls needed sealing, he couldn't allow them to simply collapse now. Not after Rose gave up everything—after he did—to make sure they still stood.

There was only resignation in her blue eyes when he opened the door.

"_Get in the TARDIS._" His voice was low and tight with anger. At her. At himself.

She said nothing when she stepped inside, and remained silent even as he input coordinates in the TARDIS, but he shot her a scathing warning look anyway. He wasn't giving in to her demands. She'd gotten her way, but he wasn't helping her. He couldn't.

In that moment, he hated equally himself and her for it. This was _never_ what he meant for..

Even the TARDIS felt quiet as they landed with a solid thud. He strode past the Rose without a word, and shoved the doors open. The planet was devoid of sentient life, and so far removed from colonization, no one would ever come across it for _twice_ her lifetime, but there were enough resources for her to survive, passably. He'd never arrived here before, and now he would never return.

"_Go_." He didn't look up at her. When she didn't move, he tried again. "You win, you're free of Earth, you're free of a life you never lived, and now you won't have to try and build another one, now _get out_. I won't ask again."

She was silent for a moment more, before she spoke. "I'm not leaving."

"No." He spun on her then, the fury he kept careful reign on evident enough in his face to even give this frustrating, cold-hearted Rose pause. But he didn't stop there. He wouldn't fight down Tyler stubbornness, and he wouldn't—couldn't—suffer through this any longer than he needed to. He took two long steps to where she stood and grabbed up her closest arm. "We're not discussing this. You don't get to argue about who is _right_, or what _I've_ got to do. You could have destroyed the world, the _universe_, and you didn't think twice about it. Right now, even if I _could_ help you, I wouldn't."

It was a lie, and they both knew it, but she said nothing. She felt so very frail and easy to break in his hand. So very unlike his Rose.

He took strength from that to propel her from the ship. She stumbled a few steps, and turned angry, bitter eyes back to him. "It's _still coming_. No matter what you do, it's still coming for this world, and hiding from it only means you'll destroy it just as much as I might have."

He closed the door without comment, and refused to look back. He was, after all, _very_ good at never looking back. There was no sympathy in the sound of the TARDIS' engines, and why would there be? He'd left a Rose behind, to live her life all alone (oh, and he knew it would be much shorter than it should be, on a planet like that), consigned her to a meaningless and empty death, and even if he'd _had_ to, that didn't make it any better, any easier.

But he managed anyway.

He made it three days.

Whether it was his shout of frustration, or the book slamming against the far wall that shattered the pervasive silence of the TARDIS more, he didn't bother to consider, even if some part of his brain did register and file away the truth of it.

When he flung the doors open once more, she appeared far more worse for wear, but still healthy enough. She still said nothing, though there was a wariness in her eyes now, and lingering anger.

That was for the best, really. He found he was completely disgusted in himself, as well.


	9. Precondition

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

AN: And _another_ update. With actual plot progression of a sort. Beware world, you may be ending.

-

_One Times Infinity_

**Chapter Nine: _Precondition_**

Shareen was easy to _keep_ talking once she started. Which was a good thing, because her point of view on the situation was so limited, Rose needed all the information she could get. And it took doing to get answers without asking questions. Miss Jones helped as far as that went.

She'd come home after her 'travels' distraught, though she hadn't elaborated more than to make Shareen believe her 'bloke' had abandoned her (though she herself insisted he hadn't _left_ her), and then a few months later vanished, packed up her things and left the country with Mickey.

And refused to ring anyone she could avoid.

Rose understood why, if she'd been trapped here, knowing the Doctor was dying somewhere 200,000 years in the future and there was _nothing_ she could do, she wouldn't have been able to stay put for long. She _didn't_ stay put, in fact. But what went wrong? How hadn't she managed to get the TARDIS back to the Doctor?

Of course, that was one thing Shareen wouldn't know, no matter how much she prodded the woman, so with a bit of hesitation, she'd let the woman go off to her work (where she'd been headed anyway), and made her way to the nearby playground, Adeola still in tow.

She sighed, and shook her head, sitting on the same bench she'd sat on a year and a half before, when she'd been searching for any way back. She'd found her epiphany then, maybe she would now.

"You've known the Doctor for awhile, then?" Adeola spoke up, sitting nearby on the bench. "In another universe?"

She glanced up. "Yeah. Not...this one, though. _Another_ alternate one, actually. We used to travel together. Went through this exact same thing, even...but...it went differently."

"Different choices?"

She nodded, and frowned across the cement lot. "But what choice? She didn't sound all that different from me, not the me then, anyway. I found a way back, I _fixed_ things. This wasn't meant t'happen."

"Could have been someone else's choice?"

She considered that, briefly. Could the Doctor have locked the TARDIS more tightly? Could he have locked out the controls more efficiently? Could she not have found a way into the console?

Could she...

She stared at the area around her. "Somethin's missing."

"What?"

"Somethin' around here, it's missing." She frowned, and stood, making a small circle of the place.

Adeola didn't move, she only directed a bemused smile at her. "Besides a shopping mall?"

"From _my_ world." Her gaze finally settled on the wall in front of her. Graffitti covered the most of it, as it did in her world...but there was something different about it. Through all the territorial markers and the scribbling, there were two words that _didn't_ stand out. That didn't call to her like they should.

_Bad Wolf_. The markings were gone. And she'd known they should be there, they were one of the few markings still left up by the time she'd gone by the Powell Estate last, and she'd intended to keep it. A testament to how she'd made it back to the Doctor, how their life began anew.

It was gone.

"Bad Wolf." Rose shook her head at Adeola's questioning look. "It's...hard t'explain. In my world, I made it back to him. We survived, yeah? Continued on, and to make sure I'd know, I sent back a message through time—sort've complicated, but I could then, think you read the report—tellin' myself I could. I sent it, and it's not here. That means it was never sent."

"Well, you never did save him this time, apparently. You wouldn't have had the chance."

She frowned, chewing on her bottom lip. "I...must not've known. It comes down to choices, not chance, yeah? So maybe...maybe Blon never returned, maybe the Doctor never told me about the heart, so I never thought to use it, and..."

Adeola seemed somewhat lost by her specifics, but spoke up anyway. "And now we're here."

She nodded. "Yeah. Guess so."

"Maybe we should go back and see if the Doctor's made any progress?"

Rose glanced over at the woman, and then at the sky which colored with the sunset. Had they been talking so long? "Yeah, s'pose so..." She frowned softly, then, and hesitated a moment. The Doctor might be finished with the TARDIS, or he might not. But there was something she wanted to see first. "Why don't you go on ahead. You remember the way, yeah?"

Adeola frowned a moment, but nodded. "Alright then. I'll tell him to stay put until you make it back."

She'd like to think he wouldn't jump through universes without her anyway, but she appreciated the gesture, offering the woman a small smile in response, "I'll be there in a bit, yeah?"

The young scientist gave another nod, and started back toward the TARDIS. Rose only watched her for a few moments, before turning back in the opposite direction. Back toward the building that used to be her home. What never would be again.

It was further than she remembered to her flat, but that could have been the difference between universes. It didn't really matter either way. She had time.

It didn't occur to her to wonder whether her key would fit the door to the flat, of course it would, and it did.

Whether no one had lived in the flat since her other left, or whether it was simply in between tenants, she found the building empty. No traces of the home she remembered were left, and of course they wouldn't be, Jackie would have taken everything she could, and the land lords would have cleaned out the rest by now. Somewhere out there, in her universe, the flat must have looked like this. Shareen and Keira would have taken some of it, no doubt. Torchwood or UNIT would have kept the alien objects, and the ones displaced in time. The rest would end up binned, donated, or incinerated.

As it would, with everyone associated with it dead.

This hadn't been her home in years. She'd given it up willingly, and now...there was no looking back. But maybe there'd never been a choice to begin with. Where had the other version of her moved to? What was her life like? Had she moved on from the Doctor? How far did they run? Did they ever stop?

Could they?

She finished a slow circle of the living room, and spotted the Doctor standing in the doorway of the hall. How long had she been in here? Had she lost track of time? Those oddly blue eyes watched her with a deep sadness. Not sympathy, but understanding.

There was only one thing truly left of their home. One person, impossibly far away.

She wasn't entirely sure when she crossed the room, and she couldn't say at which thought she started to weep. Dimly, she thought she ought to be embarrassed, falling apart at the thought of an alternate version of herself out there who never made it back to her Doctor. At a Doctor who died alone, who died with the rest of humanity, two hundred thousand years in the future. In a future that should never have been.

In a future that had to be, because for every _good_ choice, for every lucky break, there was a version of her out there who had to suffer the consequences of what it meant to miss that.

The Doctor said nothing. He simply held her close, chin resting on the top of her head. How much more difficult must it have been for him?

Or was it easier?

She couldn't believe that. Understanding these things had to happen didn't make it any easier to face. And to some small part of her she refused to acknowledge, it didn't make it any less frightening to think they might be that version who couldn't find the ones they loved, so others could.

He spoke, suddenly, as if he could hear her thoughts. Maybe she'd been thinking them loudly, or perhaps it was just that obvious a conclusion to reach. "We make our _own_ choices, Rose. Even when they're the wrong ones, they're still the choice we made. There's nothing else out there to blame for those."

There was a heavy sadness in his voice as he spoke. She didn't know if it was because of the choices this Rose made, or the choice her Doctor did.

"Can't we do anything?"

He was silent a few moments. "I can't save them, Rose. There are certain things that _must happen_, and in this universe, this is one of them. The Earth dies in the year two-hundred thousand. The Daleks _win_."

She didn't miss the bitterness in his voice, but she'd known he'd say that. If they could save them, he already would have.

Yet, he spoke again after a moment. "But there's one last thing I can do." He pulled away from her, but held out a hand toward her. "Come with me."

He said nothing else as she followed, but he didn't need to. She'd know what he was planning once he started, so for now she simply fell in step behind him, hand clasped to his, as they made their way back from the Powell Estate to where the TARDIS sat. She only released his hand when they stepped inside once more. Finding herself once more within the TARDIS was like a sudden breath of cool air after a week in stagnancy. The light that was all-but-nonexistent before flooded bright in recognition.

When she first stepped into the TARDIS, when it first crept into her mind and translated the languages as the Doctor understood them, she hadn't noticed. When the walls of the the universes closed and cut her free, she'd lost so much so quickly, she hadn't noticed the absence amongst the rest of her loss.

The faint, almost undetectable presence of the TARDIS was something she didn't realize she'd missed until it returned. Her skin hummed with the ache of missing the familiarity of something she could barely comprehend, and for a few moments, she found herself barely aware that there was anyone else in the ship with her at all.

Someone scuffed the grating, and her attention shifted to where Adeola Jones stood, next to the jumpseat. The scientist looked curious, and still fascinated herself by the ship. The Doctor had made his way to the console, and stood watching her, a faint, understanding smile on his face. When she returned his smile after a moment, he nodded and turned back toward the console, setting the TARDIS suddenly into motion.

Rose took her position near the door as an opportunity to grab hold of the nearby railing. It wasn't the roughest ride she'd ever had in the TARDIS, but after the better part of a year amongst automobiles and zepplins, the lurching of the ship was jarring.

She needn't hold on long, wherever they landed wasn't far from where they left. She frowned slightly as the TARDIS settled and she straightened. "Doctor, where are we?"

He dug his hands in his pockets as he made his way toward her. "Helping." He nodded over her shoulder toward the doors of the TARDIS, expression grim. "Out there is the other you. Probably still trying to figure out how the TARDIS just appeared in her living room, and whether she's really awake." He squeezed her arm as he passed by. "We should get out there before she makes a decision."

Before the Rose settled to fully into a false hope, he meant.

She turned and followed after him as he swung the doors open and took a step into the small living room. Another her stood staring in the middle of the room. She'd grown out her hair a bit, longer even than before the Game station. She still _looked_ exactly like herself, though. The only differences Rose could see with this less fortunate version of her was that tiredness, the age that she felt only on her worst days.

That hopelessness permeated this Rose, even if she'd evidently moved on with her life, fled London—however far they'd ended up—to escape the memories. Of course she'd never get away from the memory of the Doctor.

Rose wondered briefly if she were looking at her own future, had she not met the Doctor she stood next to now.

"Who—what's goin' on?" Her other self shook her head. "How d'you have the TARDIS? And you..."

The Doctor spoke before she could. "We're from another dimension. Another _universe_. We're...travelers."

She spoke up, then. "We're alternate versions of you. Well, I am, anyway. This...this is an alternate version the Doctor, even if he doesn't look like it. We're here to help you."

The Doctor cast her a brief glance, before holding a hand out to the Rose. "Come with me, if you want. I can give you one more chance to see him. And I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry, but that's all I can do."

Her other self looked between them for a few moments, evidently still unsure what to believe. Before Rose could speak up to say anything further, however, the Doctor did. "I'm only going to ask once, this time, Rose. When we leave, that's _it_. No second chances."

The other her blinked, his words cutting through whatever doubt and excuses were no doubt running through her mind, and nodded, taking a few steps forward. "Right. Whoever you are, if you can take me to the Doctor, then let's go." She marched between the two of them into the TARDIS, determinedly staring ahead, rather than at them.

Rose couldn't say she blamed her other self for needing to steel herself. If he couldn't save them, what could he do?

The Doctor favored her with a briefly sympathetic look, before turning after the other Rose and starting into the TARDIS. Rose paused only long enough to look over the room—sparse and full of nothing meaningful—before following after the both of them. Adeola spoke quietly to the other Rose, as the Doctor stalked in a circle around the console, flipping switches and turning dials.

When he sent the TARDIS into the vortex, he spoke once more. "I can't stop it. Not for you, and not for your Doctor. What happens two hundred thousand years in the future is _meant_ to happen. He knew that when he sent you home." He frowned over at the other Rose. "But I can help you."

Her other self held onto a strut for support. "Help me how?"

He didn't immediately answer. Instead, he set the TARDIS down with a—surprisingly sharp—jolt, and dove under the console a few moments, rummaging through the wires and miscellaneous things he'd no doubt left piled there while repairing the ship.

"Doctor..." She spoke up this time, instead of her other self, and he peered up over the console at her briefly, before ducking underneath it again.

As she started up the ramp to ask him properly, however, he reappeared, a strange looking device in his hand. He looked directly at the other Rose as he spoke. "Outside it's three minutes since you went home. You've got one minute before the room is going to be flooded with Daleks. Go straight down the hallway from the door and you'll be there." He crossed the room and placed the device in her hand.

"What's this for, then?" She didn't look down at it.

"It's a remote activator. Keep it in your pocket, press this button here when the time comes. You'll know when. It will activate the delta wave." He hesitated only a moment, but the sorrow that filled his expression when he continued carried the wait of long minutes of pause. "It's still not refined. It can't be."

Her other self shook her head. "But that would kill—"

"I'm sorry, Rose. I'm very, _very_ sorry. But everyone on Earth is going to die, anyway. Everyone on that satellite will die, and nothing can stop that. Use this, and save the universe one more time. Save humanity from _becoming_ Daleks."

She spoke up then. "_No_, there's got to be another way!"

He scowled, and stalked back to the console, looking at neither of them. "There is. You can leave that here, you can go home...or you can go out there with him without it, and he can _watch you die_. He can die knowing the Daleks won." Again, his voice held that bitterness, and he shook his head, studying the monitor of the console. "It's your choice."

She made her way across the room to place a hand on his arm. "Doctor..." The grief in his blue eyes when he glanced over at her weighed down the words she meant to say, sticking them uselessly in her throat.

She didn't get the chance to say anything else, before her other self spoke up again, taking another step forward. "Right. Thank you, then. For the chance to see 'im again." The woman nodded, and slipped the device into her pocket.

The other Rose hesitated at the doorway, glancing back toward them. "Whatever it is you're lookin' for...don't stop."

With a soft click of the door, she was gone.

Ms. Jones spoke first. "She can't mean to-"

"Can't say. Don't see those details." The Doctor spoke briskly as he swept away, twirling around the console once more. "Lets not test the TARDIS' shields against it." He sent the TARDIS into the Vortex once more, still not looking up, but there was a forced cheer in his voice when he continued. "Still! We've got a supper to make! You, Adeola Jones, are going home."

"Not in this?"

"Well, _exactly_ in this. Now that we've got her healthy again, we've got no need for that Torchwood tech. And a good thing, that, because there _is_ no Torchwood in this universe. Fancy that." He smiled brightly over Rose's shoulder. "Pete's World, here we go!"

Rose could hardly blame the young scientist for lacking the enthusiasm he so forcefully displayed.

Of all the ridiculous things of the past few hours that she'd seen, what kept swimming back to mind was the image of her other self's tiny flat. For all intents and purposes, they'd just sent an alternate version of her to her death—fitting, in a way, that it came at the end of the world next to the Doctor, when that was when it all began—but that Rose, she'd died long ago. She hadn't fled the memory of the Doctor, she'd given up living.

There hadn't even been a phone in the other Rose's building. Not that she'd seen, anyway. No television, barely even an excuse at a couch. No decorations, and no boxes of things waiting to be unpacked. Rose knew if she'd gone looking there'd barely be enough dishes and flatware to serve herself with. There would be no dresser to keep clothing she wouldn't bother collecting.

The building was nearly as empty as the Tyler flat.

It looked exactly like the home she kept in Pete's World.


	10. Memorandum

Disclaimer: Yeah. We know it's not mine.

AN: So, about that finishing thing...let's try.

-

_One Times Infinity_

**Chapter Ten: ****_Memorandum_**

She never said a word to him as he input coordinates and activated the TARDIS' deep scan. It was just as well, because he, a man of so many words, wasn't sure what he'd say to any of the fully justified things she could have said to him. There was a wariness to her stance as she stood off to the side and watched him, and of course there was. He'd destroyed the trust she should have had in him—what she had in the other him, who'd no doubt given up whatever minute chance he had to stop the complete collapse of the universe to ensure that she made it to freedom and safety.

That safety hadn't taken himself into consideration, though, had it? He could always astonish himself with his own despicable nature when he let himself.

But the silence couldn't reign forever. He was ever a talker, and there was only so long he could ignore his company.

"How long were you in this universe before contacting me?"

She gave an almost imperceptible start, as if she'd expected the stalemate to stretch on into infinity. Or, more likely, that she'd been in the middle of a thought process when he'd spoken. Whichever it was, she frowned at him after a moment. "Before I contacted _you_? You're the one who ran up and kissed _me_."

He grit his teeth a moment, before tossing an annoyed glance at her. She really wasn't letting that _go_. "Before then. How long have you been in this universe? When did you arrive in this universe."

"...One week."

Then, by relative universal time, the gap had been open about two weeks. Either it would have grown to a damaging size, or shrunk to a difficult one. Either way, the TARDIS would be able track it to its place easily enough. When he input the modified coordinates, the Rose's blue eyes hardened in sudden shrewdness.

"You can't put me back. My universe is _gone_."

He could have risen to the challenge in her tone. He could have fought with her—might even have won—or he could have explained his actions. He might even have apologized, then. He chose not to. "Oh yes. Your Doctor would never have risked sending you through universal walls if there was a chance you could survive—that you made it through without anything to buffer you and survived is one-in-five-billion chance. Well, five-billion-seven-hundred-twenty-six-th

ousand and ninety." Rambling came to him as easily as ever, and his hands flew over the console and controls in a practice for once not familiar.

If he had any sense at all, he'd be terrified. If he had any sense at all, he'd not have gone back for her.

"I told you. There's nothing I can do about your universe...and I'm sorry about that, I really am." He sobered then, slowing in his coordinates to look up at her. She remained wary and confused, and defensive as if she could argue her way out of being dropped off somewhere else. Maybe she could. She was, at her core, Rose Tyler. Not _his_, never his. But Rose Tyler all the same. "But there's a trace. Just a trace. Whatever shattered your universe left it's mark on you. It might be because you were there, or it might be one of the last things your...me...managed before the end."

She frowned. "A trace?"

"A remnant. One tiny thread of a connection to whatever destroyed the universe. Like...fingerprints or—no, like a thread snagged on a jacket. It wouldn't know it, even if it's something capable of thought. It's too minute to notice. But for someone as brilliant as _me_? You're a message in a bottle." He had no doubt that the entanglement was for that exact reason.

"You can figure out what it was? Stop it?" She looked interested now, hopeful. It might have been the first time he saw hope in those blue eyes...and there was something deeply disquieting about seeing that hope only at the possibility of revenge. Rose should never have to live for revenge.

He had nothing better to offer.

"No. It's only a thread. Even if I could guess the fabric from the color and the material, or guess the species from the print, I'd need to see the rest of it or...have something to compare it off of to know what it is." He input the last coordinate, but rather than engage the final circuit, he settled his gaze on Rose. This was a horrible idea. Terrible. So very much could go wrong, and he absolutely shouldn't try this—there were so many _reasons_ he shouldn't do this.

Yet he found the idea more thrilling to him than anything since...than anything in a very long time. "We're going to _follow it_. Out of the universe. Through the void."

"But that's-"

"Oh, _completely_ mad. Not the least bit safe. Even if we keep up, we'll probably never make it home, not without a miracle or a _particularly_ brilliant bit of inspiration. But you've been here a week. The hole you fell through is still there, slowly healing but open just wide enough for us to slip through. It doesn't lead anywhere...not anymore. Just the void. But that thing, whatever destroyed your universe, it's out there too. And it doesn't know we've got it on a lead."

That glimmer of hope in her eyes was stronger now, but she didn't move from where she stood just yet. "But your universe...passing through the walls damages them."

"It does, yes. But you've already done it, and I have a feeling this one's a bit better up-kept. Your universe was cracked and damaged and ready to unravel already when it shattered...and then whatever came for it crashed through what little structure was left. Like pulling that one middle log from the bottom of the tower. We're passing through the only hole left in the universe. The question you should be asking is...what do we do when that closes while we're out."

"I don't care."

The smile he wore at his last statement faded into seriousness.. Her answer didn't surprise him, even if her bluntness was a little shocking. "I didn't think you would."

"Why ask?" She sounded genuinely curious, though her expression remained neutral.

"Because there isn't an answer. Once it's closed there's no going through it. The TARDIS crashing through the wall without a weakness present would traumatize the wall of the universe and cause the entire universe to collapse as soon as we made it inside."

She took a step forward so that she could lean on the console...and quite likely so she could study his expression for some sign of dishonesty. Perhaps he earned that mistrust, but there was nothing there for her to see. Because everything he'd just said was completely true.

After a moment, she said, "but you're going."

He settled his most level, honest gaze on hers. "I'm going."

For a moment, he expected another question. Maybe that showed how long it'd been since he'd been traveling with Rose. When she spoke, it might have been a warning, or it might simply have been an observation. With his Rose he'd know, with this one he couldn't. It was probably best that way. "You'll be trapped in whatever universe you end up, with a different Earth and a different human race. You'll never make it back here, and you'll never see anyone in this universe ever again."

For a few moments, he simply watched her. He didn't need to think about it or to let it sink in, he could process every eventuality in the time that it took for her to speak.

He knew exactly what it meant leaving behind.

"I don't care."

-

Laughter _echoed_ through the room, and she was not about to admit that anyone beside the Doctor happened to be snorting. Even if Adeola-who looked more annoyed than she did amused with the landing-plucked up the fortitude to say she did, though, Rose couldn't say she'd have cared.

She just missed traveling in the TARDIS _so much_. Even the skinned knees and the knocked heads involved in the rougher trips—maybe especially those. She'd missed it, and she hadn't felt so light since...well, the last trip she'd had in the TARDIS.

He was giggling as he pushed himself up to his knees, and held out a hand to help her stand. Not that he stood still longer than it took for her to take it. He was as hyperactive as ever, and quick to show off his piloting skills. Which, if they included crossing universes in a TARDIS, were quite impressive.

Through the doors gleamed the white walls of Torchwood Tower, and he turned a satisfied smile on Adeola. "What did I tell you? Back before supper!"

The woman gaped, peering over the Doctor's shoulder for a moment, before taking a step out when he moved to the side. "This is..."

He beamed. "I think you've a report to fill, Miss Jones. But if you'll excuse us, there's somewhere we need to be."

She spun around quickly. "You're leaving?"

Rose had no doubt he had that smug smile of his on his face when he responded. "Not the universe. Not just yet. No need to worry, Miss Jones, we'll be around for a proper goodbye before we go."

Rose was also very certain he counted on the look of disappointment from Adeola when she nodded, but she made no comment until he closed the door—and by then he'd already started speaking.

"Right! Now, before we go any further, you, Rose Tyler, have a mother to speak to. Properly." His expression showed no room for argument...and this time she didn't want to. He made his way up to the console and started inputting things once more. "I hate long distance goodbyes."

Of course, he couldn't mean what she thought of as soon as he'd said it—he'd been dragged in with his Rose—but she couldn't help a faint frown all the same. "Yeah. Me too."

He glanced over his shoulder at her a moment, but rather than say...whatever it was that raced through his mind, he nodded to the console on the other side of where he stood. "That button there! C'mon!"

It was maybe too easy to forget exactly where they were going in the thrill of helping fly the TARDIS again...but the gentle set down of the vehicle much better suited the tone of the visit than the earlier bouncing around. The Doctor showed no signs of going to the door this time, he simply nodded. "Go on."

Her mother's eyes were red when she stepped out of the TARDIS, and Rose barely managed a word before she was enveloped in a hug just as fierce as if she'd gone missing for another year. "_Mum_..."

It'd been difficult even saying goodbye over mobile. Saying she'd choose to stay with the Doctor even if it meant never seeing her mother ever again was so much easier when it didn't mean saying it to her face. In the spur of the moment and when it was a direct choice between losing her mother or losing the Doctor, it was so much easier to cling to the Doctor.

When it meant going out and searching what, realistically, might be years, and then even if she found him never seeing her mother or Mickey again, or the little brother she'd never see...that wasn't so easy.

"You'll come and see Tony some day." Jackie sniffled when she finally let go, and very nearly had an authoritative expression. "He's going to be Tony."

"Tony?"

"Pete had a brother. In this universe. Did you know that? He died when they were little, but his name was Tony...so...we're gonna name him Tony."

She summoned her best smile. "S'brilliant, Mum. Tony's a brilliant name."

"I know I can't make you stay..." her voice hitched, and she took a step back, "but—the kettle's on and-"

"I'd love a cuppa, Mum."

She knew she couldn't promise to return. She couldn't promise she'd ever see her mother or her family or Mickey again. What were the chances she really would? This was a one-way ticket. One single chance to find her Doctor and go back _home_ that'd never come again. And she loved her mother. She loved the family she'd been given and the friends...but they weren't her home. There was only one place that'd ever be home again.

Mickey showed up just about when she finished her cup. "So you're leaving again, then."

She wanted to apologize, even started to, but he held up a hand to start her. "You're not sorry, Rose. Don't say you are. You've been looking for a chance like this since you got here. You're not sorry. But no one's asking you to be. Cos you're not happy _here_, Rose, and you're never gonna be. If you stay behind you're gonna hate yourself, cos this isn't where you belong, is it?"

"Mickey..."

Rather than let her finish, he pulled her into a hug. "You just promise one thing. You find him, you make him finish his sentences, and you _never let go_ of what makes you happy. You got that?"

She hiccuped and nodded, and just registered her mother dragging her into another hug. "I love you, Rose. You understand that? No matter what, that's never gonna change. And...and if he ever hurts you, I'll _find_ a way t'give him a good piece of my mind. You make sure he knows it."

She sniffled even as she laughed. "Yeah. I will."

She almost expected to see the Doctor standing at the TARDIS door, impatient as ever to leave. Instead, he was sitting in the jump seat of the console room, tinkering with some bit of machinery. When he spotted her, though, he hopped to his feet and made his way over to the stairwell, expression as somber as ever. "Rose...you can stay. If you want. I release you of any previous agreements, if you want to stay, then stay. She's your mother."

She wanted to say something flippant. 'Everyone leaves home in the end', 'I've already made my choice', something to lighten it or spin it into something less than forever. All she could manage was a shake of her head and a watery smile.

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and somewhere along the way she finally began to cry.


	11. Infecund

Disclaimer: Yep. Still not mine.

AN: ANOTHER CHAPTER.

-

_One Times Infinity_

**Chapter Eleven: ****_Infecund_**

True to his word, the Doctor came back for Adeola once he decided the TARDIS had recharged enough from her jump to make another. She stood in the lab looking anxious, and Rose wondered whether the young scientist had actually been effectively studying anything before they arrived.

The Doctor was back to his chipper self, and she thought she did a good job of looking only excited herself. "Miss Jones."

"...You came back."

"I always keep my promises." He smiled broadly and took a step forward, offering her a hand. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Jones. And I don't say that often about Torchwood."

"And you." Adeola grinned, shaking his hand. "I don't say that often about aliens."

"You've met _terrible_ aliens, then."

"Likewise."

He smiled fondly, and Rose spoke up. "It's been a pleasure working with you, as well, Miss Jones."

The scientist glanced between the two of them, and her gaze lingered on the TARDIS for a few moments. "You're...really leaving then? For good."

"This isn't our universe, and welcoming as it is, we have homes that need finding."

"Of course." Again her expression was hesitant and disappointed as she nodded.

It didn't surprise Rose at all when he followed with, "of course...if you wanted to...you could come with?" He shrugged. "I'm afraid I can't promise you'll be back by supper. Can't promise you'll be back at all. It's completely understandable if you want to stay, but..."

"-You'll be visiting other universes? Like the one we saw?"

He nodded. "Well. Like that, and like this, and completely different. Some might be almost identical to this one, some might be so different they'll be completely unrecognizable. Might not even be able to step out of the TARDIS in some of them. It's the nature of parallel universes—they're all completely different realities."

Rose knew what Adeola was going to say before she spoke. "I'll do it. I'll come with you."

"-are you sure? I really _can't_ promise you that I'll be able to bring you home."

She shook her head. "I have a home that I need to find, too."

He smiled, then, and held out his hand once more. "Welcome aboard, Miss Jones."

–

It was strange, the way that the TARDIS would go from rough riding to get out of the universe to smoothly gliding once it hit the Void. She hadn't noticed the first time around, given they were too busy crashing, and she hadn't thought much of it on the trip back to Pete's World a short while ago, but this time...perhaps the trip simply lasted longer.

She didn't know where they were going, and his concentration looked so extreme she didn't want to chance asking him. She knew traveling universes had to be tricky—the Doctor, her Doctor, had said it was impossible himself. Naturally, even if a Doctor could find a way around that, it wouldn't be an easy one. In all likelihood, even the smallest miscalculation would result in their being shredded.

Whether Adeola realized that, or was simply anxious because of the TARDIS or her decision, Rose didn't know. Whichever the reason, she stole reassuring glances toward the sitting scientist whenever the Doctor wasn't giving out rapid-fire orders. This wasn't exactly the easiest 'TARDIS travel 101' to have.

It wasn't the easiest Experts course.

She knew they must have come to their destination (of the moment, she couldn't get her hopes up into believing they'd find who they were looking for right off) only by the way the ride became suddenly violent once more. She lurched forward as the ship suddenly jerked, and grabbed a hold of the console for all she was worth.

When they touched down she found herself on her back anyway.

Adeola was the first to make a sound this time, groaning from the spot on the floor she'd ended up, and slowly uncurling as Rose made her own way to her feet. "Could do with working on the landing a bit."

The Doctor huffed. "She's tired still. Give her time to recover and she'll manage these jumps better."

Rose made her way around the room to get a look at the monitor...but of course it was pointless. The information it displayed was complete gibberish to her. "Where are we?"

He rubbed at the back of his neck as he walked up behind her. "Don't know. Different universe. I was...following something, but the TARDIS isn't strong enough for that big of a jump yet. We'll be stuck here until she recovers."

"Stuck here?" Rose blinked, and turned to get a better look at him. "How long's that?"

He grimaced. "A few hours? A day? Long enough to go out and explore, at any rate. It'll be healthier for her if she's able to shut down her interior systems, anyway."

"We've come out to go exploring universes anyway, haven't we?" Adeola said, as she made her way over to where they both stood.

The Doctor beamed and clapped her shoulder. "That we have! So what do you say, Rose, shall we explore?"

She grinned. "S'pose we might as well, yeah?"

"That's the spirit! C'mon!" He skipped ahead and down the ramp, pulling the TARDIS doors inward in a grand and clearly showy gesture.

The gesture itself was really quite a bit more impressive than the view.

Rose blinked, and followed after him, staring out at the rock and...well...there was hardly even any brush around to be _called_ 'brush'. There were just...rocks. Everywhere. "What's this then? The rock quarry universe?"

"I don't know about _universe_...I've seen a fair few of those in my own..." He took a few steps out of the TARDIS, spun, and sniffed the air. "Never in Cardiff, though."

Adeola appeared at her side, leaning a hand against the other door. "This is Cardiff?"

He nodded and pointed past the TARDIS. "Bay's right over there."

Rose shook her head and took a step out of the TARDIS. "The rift still here?"

"Eh. Not quite the same...but it's functional as far as speeding the TARDIS' recovery."

Adeola spoke up then. "If Cardiff's just a rock quarry...what are we going to do for hours?"

He grinned. "Figure out what happened. C'mon! Rose, Miss Jones, if you would."

Adeola didn't look entirely convinced by his enthusiasm, but she did take a few steps out after him anyway. For now, it was all the Doctor needed to beam happily at her and start off on the rocky path ahead. "So! A universe where no one ever thought to build a city around a weak point in space and time. _Or_, a universe where they did and something happened to completely obliterate it."

Rose frowned, scanning the horizon for some sign of ruins. "There should be _something_, though, shouldn't there be?"

"Quite right!" He gestured grandly around them. "The ground isn't dug out. It hasn't been blasted away...it's simply not _growing_. Why? What prevents building _and_ growing?"

Adeola spoke before she could. "Radiation?"

He clicked his tongue and shook his head. "I don't think so. Not this time. There's nothing left in the air, and if it were still preventing shrubs from springing up in Wales, there'd be a noticeable amount left. So what devastates plant life but leaves no traces of itself?"

Rose bit her lip in thought, and stared up at the sky a moment. An ash plume could block out the sun and choke out all the life in the area it remained...but there was clearly no ash in the area, and the sky was free of any clouds. Yet there was nothing, not even a single cloud in the blue expanse.

She flicked her tongue along her bottom lip, which felt unnaturally dry for having just been chewing on it in her thought. She blinked, wet her lip once more, and turned her attention back to the expanse of wasteland around them. "Water. There's no rain here."

"_Yes_!" His grin was far too satisfied when he turned back to her a moment. "Not the presence of something, the _absence_ of it! And given the dryness of the air, I'm not so sure there's anything in the bay at all."

Adeola frowned. "What could cause _that_?"

"Oh...anything. Chemicals, solar shifts, an extremely thirsty star whale...it might never have been here at all. Parallel universe. Just because _we_ expect Cardiff in all of its Welsh glory doesn't mean the people of this planet will."

"So...we'll be stuck in some sort of desert-world for hours until the ship recharges?"

He shrugged. "Oh, she won't be very long. Not long enough to worry about water, anyway. Now! Why don't we go and see if there's locals about?" He clapped his hands and smiled at them expectantly. For a moment, Rose was about to protest that a place like this wouldn't likely have any residents anywhere near where they stood.

Then she spotted the flashes of light coming from beyond a nearby hill. "Over there?" Even if it wasn't civilization, it might be a bit of metal that might shed light on the sort of civilization the universe had.

He glanced over his shoulder in the direction she pointed, and gave a small nod. "Over there!" Without waiting for any other response he started ahead, his long legs making for far more efficient strides than she. Still, she had practice keeping up with him, so even with his head-start she kept pace well enough. It helped that she was as curious as he about what they'd find on the other side of the hill. Even though it was perfectly reasonable to conclude the most likely cause of the flashes was a bit of debris, not a city, she couldn't help getting a bit of hope up for finding something truly new and unexplored.

As it happened, when the Doctor crouched behind a rock at the top of the bluff...she found her hopes weren't dashed after all. The flashing, as it turned out, was the metal of a conveyor belt reflecting the light of the sun, as large rocks were carried off into the distance by it. Far more interesting, however, were the people who carried and deposited the rocks. They weren't human—at least not in the sense Rose would have recognized—they looked like the rocks and ground of Cardiff had sprung to life and started walking around. Which was possible, given they now stood in a parallel universe...but still not very likely.

Smoke seemed to puff out of them with a regularity that Rose presumed must have been similar to breathing, but dissipated into nothing before it rose above the bluff...which explained why she hadn't spotted it previously. Though they didn't appear to speak, the group of them—perhaps a dozen—seemed to rumble like they really _were_ the cliff side moving. But they couldn't be. Besides the smoke that rose from them, their eyes and—on the occasion that they opened it—mouths seemed to be full of _fire_, or something which appeared very similar. Whatever they were, Rose doubted very much they were as simple as animated rock.

She glanced toward the Doctor, who looked simply thoughtful, and then over her shoulder for Adeola, who ought to have caught up by now even if she'd fallen behind initially.

Somehow, she didn't find it surprising at all not to see her.

"Doctor..." Rose said, trying to keep her voice low. "Where's Adeola?"

"Mm?" He turned to look over his shoulder, as if he hadn't thought of the scientist at all until she pointed out her absence. When she failed to appear after a moment, he gave an annoyed 'tsk'. "Is it really so hard _not_ to wander off? Parallel universe, no method of communication, you'd think at least _then_ someone would listen!"

"...You never told her not to wander off, Doctor."

He blinked. "It-was inferred. C'mon." He held out a hand to help her up to a crouch, and then dashed back down the hillside. With the bluff once more between they and the residents of not-Cardiff, he apparently felt confident enough to raise his voice once more. "Miss Jones? Miss Jones!"

Rose sighed, and squinted against the glare of the sun. "_Jones_? Hello?" She glanced toward the Doctor briefly, who seemed to be scanning the ground, perhaps for footprints. "Do you think she could have gone back to the TARDIS?"

He made a noncommittal noise. "Could've tried. Let's see. Might even be able to spot her from there if she hasn't."

Once more his steps were sure and long, and once more she was glad to be able to keep up with them. But with a specific goal in mind, she could afford to ask him less pressing questions. "Who d'you think those were?"

"The locals."

"Yeah, but...d'you think they're friendly? Have you ever seen 'em before, in your universe?"

He frowned. "Could be. Might not have. Different universes, Rose, potentially nothing we know could hold true here."

"Yeah, but we haven't seen anythin' that extreme yet. Just...quirks. Little differences, choices that went differently."

"We've never been to a universe without Cardiff, have we? What if the choice in this universe is much further back than the choices we've seen before?"

Rose frowned up at him a moment, thoughtful. His questions sounded...leading. Like he'd reached a conclusion and was just waiting for her to catch up already so he could congratulate her and move on to more important things. "What sort of choice?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. But history is different in this universe. The points in time in this universe that are fixed aren't anything like the ones in the others I've seen. Mine, yours, the other. Things we take for granted never existed—never _can_."

"Things like Cardiff."

"Things like entire civilizations, Rose." He stopped suddenly, and turned his attention to her. "Like an entire race of people wiped out before they even began to crawl."

"...Doctor. What _happened_ here?"

For a moment, those blue eyes of his simply stared down at her, and she began to wonder whether he were going to give her a straight answer at all.

As it turned out, when he finally opened his mouth to respond, those people—or very similar—sprung out from the rocks around them, wielding very unfriendly looking rifles.

Lovely.


	12. Irriguous

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure after seven years we all know I don't own this by now.

AN: I actually wrote this mostly last year, but got bogged down by stuff and never finished it. This chapter is about twice as long as normal chapters, though, so it's _like_ getting two chapters at once?

-

_One Times Infinity_

**Chapter Twelve: ****_Irriguous_**

Rose wasn't even surprised to find that their second trip out they found themselves arrested. In retrospect, if she wasn't so distracted by the differences of the last universe, she would have been a little bit surprised they didn't end up in any life threatening situations there. It was probably for the best that they didn't, all things considered...but there was still a part of her who found it a little bit thrilling now to be thrust back into danger. Oh, yes, Torchwood carried a little bit of danger too...but in the time she'd been there, they'd only encountered a few things, and it only made the time drag by that much more acutely.

The small smile the Doctor tossed her as they shuffled into the throne room (as it looked like it was) must have meant she wasn't holding that excitement in as well as she thought. Or, maybe more likely, he just knew her well enough that he didn't need to see it to know it. But given they were in an entirely different universe without any idea where they were going, the Doctor was probably just as excited. He always did have a thing for the unknown.

Within the 'throne room' sat a much larger version of whatever it was that led them from the surface to the underground caverns of Cardiff. She had trouble believing, even on this Earth and this being a different universe, that these were any kind of 'human'. It seemed more likely they were some sort of aliens who'd settled on the planet. The question Rose couldn't help wondering, as she scanned the large cavern they'd been led into, was whether these aliens came because of the lack of water, or the lack of water came because of the aliens.

What probably shouldn't have surprised her but _did_, was that when the 'leader' spoke, it came out only rumbling hisses. Given that she'd been traveling in the TARDIS again, she'd expected the translation circuits to be running properly again... but then again, maybe because this was another universe, it was a language the Doctor couldn't speak, like at Krop-Tor. The thought was a little disconcerting.

And yet, the Doctor spoke almost immediately after she thought it. "We're travelers, actually. Just passing through! I'm the Doctor, this is Rose. We didn't mean to trespass anywhere." At her confused look, he leaned in closer to her and spoke in a low voice. "The TARDIS is still recovering from the shock, Rose, her translation circuits aren't exactly up to her best."

She opened her mouth to point out that _clearly_ she could hear what the Doctor said in the same language, but the rock-person spoke first, in a booming voice that couldn't have been good. Well, it could have been, but usually that kind of booming voice didn't go well with accusing them of trespassing. Accusing them of trespassing at rifle point tended to just not go well overall, actually.

He grimaced. "I assure you, we're not attempting to claim-" the rock-creature's roar cut him off, and Rose tried not to visibly flinch at the way it reverberated in the cavern. "Well you didn't have _signs_, did you? You can't claim sacred territory and then not warn anyone!"

Given the leader's gestures led to the rifles pointing at them again, he clearly seemed unconvinced. "Doctor..."

"Wait! Just-_wait_!" He held up his hands, not in a passive gesture, but a placating one. "This is a misunderstanding. A big...tourist-y misunderstanding, and we'll happily turn back around and leave now that we know this is your sacred ground. You don't have to do this."

It was possible his pleading might have calmed the leader somewhat, as it was back to simply hissing...but after a moment Rose doubted he got through to it. In fact, considering most cultures she'd met didn't tend to stun people they were releasing when they were happy enough to lead them into their lairs conscious, she was pretty sure he didn't.

She didn't care for stunners. They might not do very much permanent damage, but it was always a headache waking up after one of them. If their adventures could do more with being shot _at_ and less with actually being shot she didn't think she'd mind the change.

The Doctor was already awake when she stirred. That wasn't any more surprising than it was to find her arms chained to the wall of the cave. It was always either the chains or the cell option. Oddly enough, times when 'prisoner' meant something other than those two options were actually very rare. But then they were the most practical options for making sure people didn't get away.

"...Doctor?"

He glanced over at her. "You alright?"

Her mental inventory didn't take long. "Yeah, just a bit of a headache. What'd he say?"

"They're a race called the Pyroville. Earth is their sacred ground. _All_ of it. Only the High Pryrellian—that's the large one you saw—and his followers are allowed on the ground, they use it for...luck ceremonies and burials and that sort of thing. _Apparently_ they've got warnings up about it across the solar system...and he's a bit of a cross fellow. Not so much interested in hearing explanations as he is in meting out punishment."

"And that punishment is?" She had a feeling, really, that she didn't need to ask.

His strange blue eyes turned back from the rest of the empty cavern to her. "We're to be used as fuel for the morning ceremony."

_Fuel_. "Is that what they did to the humans of this Earth? Made them into _fuel_?"

"Could be. I don't know." He glanced up at the ceiling, expression resigned. "Probably."

It probably meant there wasn't a Doctor in this universe, either. "We've...got to do something about them, then. Stop them just...pointlessly _killing_ people they find."

"No."

"...No?"

"We can't just travel across realities and _fix_ them, Rose." He refused to look at her, even though she strained at the chains to get a good look at him, but the frustration in his voice was clear enough anyway. "It's not our Earth. Things aren't meant to go the same way. Even if—even if the ways we know look _better_ to us, sometimes what's meant to be isn't what's _best_ to be, Rose." He did finally turn to look at her at that. "Sometimes...a volcano is meant to destroy a city of innocent people and no one can stop it, and sometimes that volcano doesn't and an entire race is wiped out because of it. And sometimes the race that destroys them has to stay. That's how parallel realities work."

"Some realities are _wrong_."

For a moment, his expression flickered to something intensely sad, but he only said, "Yes."

If she could have, she would have reached out to him, but as it was, her arms were useless. She might have been able to reach out and nudge him with her foot, as they were standing just about side-by-side, but it would have been a little bit of a stretch. So she did the next best thing. "So. I'm not planning on being _anyone's_ fuel. How d'you suggest we get out of here and find Adeola? Cos...I'm not sure, but I'm betting we're even deeper than before."

"We are." He grimaced. "They left me my sonic screwdriver—probably had no idea what it was—but I can't reach it like this."

"...So how d'we plan on getting out without it? Cos I might've been a gymnast when I was a kid, Doctor, but I'm pretty sure there's no way I'm gettin' to any of your pockets."

He grinned briefly, shaking his head. "No. That'd be a bit beyond the human scope of flexibility."

"And a bit difficult t'operate the screwdriver in trainers."

"A bit." He glanced up at his wrists a moment. "...I've got an idea, but you're going to have to trust me, Rose."

She frowned. "I always trust you."

He smiled over at her for a moment, before kicking himself away from the wall and...spinning. It was probably a better, more fluid movement than that, really, but her observation was a bit distracted by the fact that it left him pressed uncomfortably flush against her. Not that it hadn't happened before—TARDIS crash landings, tiny alleyways while fleeing pursuers, any enthusiastic hug, general tight quarters—but it seemed...excessively close while their arms were both still chained to the wall. He must have been to the limit those chains would allow him...and the feeling was a little bit claustrophobic.

"_Doctor_...?" Trust didn't mean she couldn't ask for an explanation.

"The screwdriver's in my trouser pocket." He gave her an apologetic smile. "It's on a proper setting that'll do, and it ought to be able to reach _one_ of our chains. I've just...got to activate it. Hold still."

She drew in a reflexive breath when his thigh pushed against hers, but she bit her lip rather than speaking. Operating the sonic screwdriver by...nudging couldn't be an easy process, given that look of concentration, and as _wildly inappropriate_ as the squirming and pushing would have been if he...weren't a Doctor who was very much looking for his own Rose, distracting him wasn't going to get them out of there any faster.

She was already distracted enough for the both of them, really.

After moment more of struggling, there was a high pitched whine, and her arms fell free. The Doctor made a triumphant sound, and nodded. "Thought it might've been angled more towards yours. If you'd just...grab it and do mine?"

Really, he didn't know any better, but that language wasn't really making the situation any better. She laughed. "Blimey. Good thing it wasn't upside down."

He grinned. "That'd take a considerable amount of athletics to fix."

Despite the fact that she was no longer shackled to the wall, the way he remained so close—definitely at the limit of those chains—made it exceedingly difficult for her to actually struggle her arms _down_ to his pocket. It took a considerable amount of flailing and squirming to get her elbows underneath his and to freedom. She half-expected to find his pocket as roomy as the one in his coat—which she'd been startled by the time she'd plunged her hand into it for the psychic paper once—but as it turned out, his trouser pockets weren't actually all that bigger on the inside. It was wide enough to actually get into and disguise the presence of the sonic screwdriver from the outside...but not much larger than that.

Once she retrieved it, she then had to struggle a bit and pass off the screwdriver to the hand she'd still kept trapped in an uncomfortable position above her head. Frankly, this had to be among one of the most awkward 'stuck in a prison cell/chained up somewhere' situations she'd ever gotten into with the Doctor.

"Okay, um..." She craned her neck to look at the wall his chains were rooted to and tilted the screwdriver accordingly. "Just...aim it at the chains and press the button, yeah?"

"Yep. Bit sooner than later if you could. Might be starting to lose feeling in my hands."

She frowned, twisting her wrist a bit more to aim the screwdriver properly. "You're the one who's too thick to-" the sharp whine of the screwdriver cut her off initially, but it was the flash of _lime green_ from the screwdriver that derailed her train of thought. "Why's it _green_?"

"What?" The Doctor frowned at her, apparently baffled. "Why's _what_ green?"

"The...sonic—get off." Not that she wouldn't normally have a certain appreciation for such close quarters contact, mind, but it was stiflingly warm and even though he didn't really seem to give off body heat she needed just about as fresh oxygen as she could get on this version of Earth. While underground. "It's green. It's just...I...my Doctor's sonic is blue."

"Hnh." Despite the contemplative sound, the Doctor's attention seemed to linger for a few moments on the wall where his hands had been caught. Before she could turn to look at it he sprang backward and spun around. "Alright! Shall we go and find Miss Jones?"

Rose glanced back at the wall for only a moment before she picked up her speed and chased after him. "Alright...any idea where she is?"

"Haven't the faintest."

"Could she be somewhere down here?"

He nodded, although his attention remained on the path ahead of them, rather than herself. "Could be. Not likely. She'd have been granted an audience at the same time...and even if she'd been brought in later she'd be _here_."

"So she's somewhere up top?"

"Mm, well. Best guess, anyway." He skidded to a halt as he turned a corner, which _nearly_ caused her to slam right into him. As it was, she had to grab his shoulder just to stabilize herself when she stopped. The reason for his halt was obvious, though. Only a few feet from the turn—the _only_ turn—stood what appeared to be a door without any immediate method of actually _opening_ it.

He frowned and took a step forward, running his hand over it. "Oh, I haven't seen one of these in ages. Heat-sensitive door! You raise it's temperature to a sufficient level and it uses the energy to operate the machinery in the wall to open. Very clever...and given it's the cell door, I imagine it'll require a specific temperature to open. Or a specific combination of them. Bit like a keypad."

"Raise it's temperature..." She edged into the corridor with him, studying the shining black wall-door from where she stood. "How d'we manage that? Raise it how _high_?"

"I'd say given the nature of our hosts...very." He took a step back and gave the sonic screwdriver a little flourish. "Nothing this couldn't handle. I'd just have to excite its molecules in a wide enough or specific enough area and it'd activate. We could gradually increase the temperature until it gathered sufficient energy...but without the passcode we'd have to try _every_ temperature. And take breaks between each attempt."

"That would take _ages_, Doctor, we'd be better off waiting for them to show back up and running through the door as soon as it opened."

He nodded. "Yes, well, there's another option." He took another step back. "Back up a bit, Rose." He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the door and fiddled with the setting a bit. When she retreated behind him, he activated the sonic once more. The device flashed green and the sound almost made her wince, so high was its pitch.

At first nothing seemed to happen, but after a moment the door _cracked_. Then again, running the length of its shape. After that the structure simply seemed to splinter and all but shatter. It took only a firm push of the Doctor's shoulder to send it all toppling to the ground in the other hallway.

She blinked as she picked her way through the debris, following after him as he set off once more. "Well...never saw that one happen before."

"Doesn't happen often. The rock's only so brittle because of the way it's been heated and cooled so often." He tossed her a small smirk and tucked the sonic into is jacket sleeve. "Bit of a design flaw, that."

"Well...they probably don't have to deal with sonic screwdrivers all that often." Even less so than any race from a world where the Doctor actually _went_. With those it was always possible they might eventually catch on. Not that she felt any sympathy for this race that had wiped out an entire planet to make a sacred _farm_.

"No, they probably only need to deal with brute strength and temperature tampering. When they have to deal with anything at all."

Rose hadn't been paying too much attention to where they were going, given that she didn't have any idea how they'd gotten from the throne room to the 'dungeon', but the air seemed less thick and oppressive now. It could have simply been because she wasn't chained to a wall and stuck in one place...but she chose to believe it meant they were slowly climbing upward. It was progress, after all, and leaving Adeola alone on a planet in the wrong universe could get her killed.

They made it through a few more doors before Rose heard that almost-familiar hissing roar from behind them, and the _definitely_ familiar click of rifles. So much for getting out without incident. Because that happened so often.

She sighed and turned around along with the Doctor. Apparently they'd stumbled right into the path of a small patrol of four of the...Pyrovilles. If her experience and observations held up across universes, anyway.

"Oh, hello!" The Doctor beamed at the aliens holding rifles at them, the same as he almost always did. "Actually I was hoping to catch a few of you...would any of you happen to have a _map_? We've gotten a bit turned around, and I just can't seem to find anything that says 'You Are Here'."

Judging from the hissing and sharp movements none of them were interested in lending a map. "I'm pretty sure that's Pyrovillian for 'we're not tour guides', Doctor."

"Something like that." He nodded and continued to smile. "I was afraid you might say that. You could really do with a gift shop for that. Still! I suppose you wouldn't get very much business with sacrificing everyone who drops by..._wait_!" He lifted his hands over his head in an apparent attempt to keep the Pyrovilles from stunning them all over again.

To keep the Pyroville from _hopefully_ stunning them again.

"Alright! Alright, we'll go with you. Just...just one last thing!" His hand flicked backward, and apparently he'd hidden a launcher up his sleeve, because the sonic screwdriver sprung out of his sleeve and into his hand. "_Run_!"

Green light filled the corridor, followed—with surprising speed—by the crackling sound of the overstressed rock. Rose didn't have long to think on just what he'd done, though, as he quickly sprinted down the corridor once the pulse was finished. It didn't take long to figure out just what he was running from, though, as the first cracks in the ceiling raced along the length of the hallway far more quickly than they ever did with the doors. She couldn't even afford to look back and see if the Pyroville took his advice or not, because even as it was she barely made it around the corner and into another hallway before the whole section they'd been standing in collapsed in a shower of dirt and jagged rocks.

The Doctor laughed and shook his head as he leaned against the wall next to her. "Works much faster than I thought it would on the ceiling."

"You could've compromised this whole level, Doctor."

He nodded. "Could have. Wasn't likely. _Didn't_."

Rose glanced back at the collapsed hallway a moment, before shooting the Doctor a look of sufficient annoyance to shut him up...but she couldn't really argue they could have done better. There _wasn't_ an efficient, better choice at that point.

"Right. C'mon. Let's go find Adeola."

He smiled and nodded, this time allowing her to take the lead. After a few more turns and one door, she glanced over at him. "So why's it green? What's the difference from blue?"

"Hm? Oh...it's probably cosmetic." He tucked the sonic away once more as he spoke. "The light doesn't _do_ anything. It's not even necessary. It's helpful to know when it's on, though. It's possible your Doctor uses a different frequency band than this one, but there's simply no way to know...unless your Doctor showed you how to assemble one?"

She scoffed and shook her head. "No, not even close."

There was that look again, the one she realized was a kind of sincere look of sympathy, pity, or...maybe confusion at something her Doctor didn't do with her that he did. It wasn't an expression she'd often seen directed toward her by the Doctor, as there simply hadn't been many times he'd felt _pity_ toward her. Apparently it was something she'd have to get used to now.

He tucked his hands into his pockets after a moment and started off down the corridor once more. "Now...this looks familiar. I think the exit's this way! Well...it should be. Well. I say _should_..."

"Y'sure about that?" She tossed him a sidelong glance. "Y'know. Just...checking." She'd like to know if they were following his nose, or if he'd just glanced at a map somewhere along the way.

"Well, the designs are the same as the path to the throne room, so we must be on the proper level."

"Right, so we're on the way out...and where do you think Adeola got to?" Rose glanced over at him as they walked.

"It's been twelve hours now, I imagine the most likely place we'll find her is the TARDIS." He shrugged. "_Or_ she's spent this whole time with a group of Pyroville who disagree with the frankly terrible anti-tourist attitude of the Pryrellian and is organizing a dramatically timed rescue right now. We _could_ meet her on the way out after doing all the hard work."

"Oh, that was _one time_, Doctor."

"Mm, in your universe." He smirked as he started in on another door. "The Rose I know had it happen _distressingly_ often."

She snorted. "Well, it sounds like a problem with your universe, not me."

He shrugged as the door caved inward. "If so, we'll just have to see how this universe turns out. I suppose she might just have gotten lost and we'll have to pick her up in the TARDIS."

"Do you think..." She trailed off as she stepped into the room and took in its entirety. "Well."

The Doctor sidled up next to her and frowned. "I _did_ say we were close to the throne room. Still...who doesn't label their side-doors to the throne room? That must get awkward."

That was about the time the guards in the room all turned on them, and the High Rock Poobah or whatever it was hissed and roared in their direction. She could get the gist of what he was saying even without a convenient translation.

"...Doctor..."

"Hello!" He beamed at the king, surreptitiously nudging her to the right as he spoke. "We were just going for a walk...you know, Walk Your Prisoners Day...we got a bit separated from the rest of the group and it seems like we've gotten lost! You wouldn't happen to know the way?"

The creature roared, and the Doctor winced, shuffling them just a bit more quickly to the right as he spoke. "Right, not a tour guide...blimey your race is inconsiderate of visitors. No wonder you've got such a slump in the middle of Summer."

More roaring and hissing. She'd have liked to say something herself, but without remotely speaking their language, it would be completely impossible to convey anything of sense to them.

"Alright, alright! We'll just go back to our cell, shall we?" He held up his hands once more, still holding the sonic screwdriver this time from opening the door just moments earlier. "Only it might be difficult, given one of the main hallways collapsed on the way. We'll have to find an alternate pathway." He glanced over at her for a moment, voice lowered. "The door is behind you. When I say it...you need to run. Got it?"

She nodded after a moment. "Yeah, right, as long as it's _we_. I'm not getting stuck on this planet."

He tossed her an amused grin. "Cover your ears."

It was the only warning she received before the Doctor activated the sonic screwdriver again. This time the light was a bit more bright and the sustained pulse echoed off of the walls at a pitch which was actually painful. Not terribly so, but something that would certainly be annoying if she were subjected to it at any length.

She didn't even need his command to grab his hand and bolt out through the throne room double doors. She'd seen what happened to the hallway, it didn't take much to figure out what it would do to the auditorium. The roars of the Pyroville inside probably wouldn't do much good for the auditorium, either. Fortunately, the main doors of the throne room were left open—otherwise she imagined an effective escape would have been a bit more tricky.

From the doors of the throne room their escape was a bit easier, having already seen the pathway in. Of course, Rose didn't remember _all_ of it, but the Doctor did tend to be good at remembering those sorts of details. Which was good, because running in a circle after than dramatic exit would have been embarrassing. Despite the chaos the Doctor's stunt elicited, there seemed to still be plenty of Pyroville to chase them, as she could hear them roaring and stomping along in the hallways just out of sight the whole time they navigated the corridors up to the surface...so going in circles would have been very unfortunate.

Although the Doctor did mention they'd been down in the dungeon for twelve hours, Rose still found herself momentarily disoriented when they stumbled out of the labyrinth into...nightfall. She really did hate stun guns.

Once they topped the nearest ridge, the Doctor slowed to a walk, scanning the area around them with a thoughtful expression. It was a little bit disquieting, considering the army of rock-people still chasing them and _really_ only a short distance away.

"Please tell me you haven't forgotten where you parked, Doctor."

He snorted. "I always remember where I've parked, Rose. Except when it's moved. Which is hasn't, because the TARDIS technology is too foreign from Pyrovillian technology to be worked out in twelve hours." He shook his head and picked up his pace...although really it was still just a brisk walk. "Right now they can't be _completely_ sure which direction we went. I've got a very strong guess—and I'm rather good at those—that they can sense the vibration in the ground. The less we vibrate the harder it is to find us."

She nodded. They _did_ have quite a bit of...earthy-cave-y technology and...body-types. It seemed to stand to reason. "Right, so...people who panic get caught."

"Exactly. Take a few more minutes to observe the scenery and we should be able to avoid standing out like a great big shaking beacon."

Honestly, though, the sooner she was out of this scenery and on to a more recognizable universe? The better. Maybe for once they could find one of those necessarily _good_ universes next time. That might be a bit more encouraging than finding out her universe was apparently stuck in the middle of the group of universes where everything went wrong. Even though she had a feeling the Doctor would say that wasn't _quite_ how their traveling worked.

"How much navigation do you get?"

"Hm?" He glanced over at her, and by his expression she'd clearly interrupted him mid-thought.

"Through universes...you said if you know what you're doing you can navigate these universes, yeah?"

"Ah, yes. Well...once the TARDIS is fully charged I'll be able to lead her anywhere...anywhere I know where _is_." He gave her an apologetic look then. "I can't just take you to your universe. Not and be sure it's _yours_. It'll take time to calculate where yours is and how to get there...and it'd be a bit easier if the TARDIS could focus on just one thing at a time."

"Finding your Rose, you mean."

Again, the apologetic look. "The TARDIS is connected to me. She's got my energy fueling her systems—well _had_ by this point, but same effect—finding my universe...or traces of it...is as natural to her as finding home. Finding yours isn't that easy."

She shook her head quickly. "No, no. I'm here to help, not just t'get a free ride. I'm not going anywhere until we find your Rose. Then y'can see about getting me home for dinner."

He grinned. "Dinner, maybe. Can't make any promises about Midnight."

"Yeah, but I've got a knack for sneaking in late."

He gave her an intrigued and amused expression, but before he could say anything the nearby rocks erupted outward. Or...well...parts of them dropped off and Pyrovilles came pouring out all around them, surrounding them once more. At least that explained how they'd been sneaked up on last time...

"Ah." The Doctor moved to hold up his hands, but froze at a rather aggressive sounding hiss from one of the nearby ones.

"...Did that one just tell you _not_ to hold up your hands where they can see them?"

"Apparently I'm not trustworthy." He tutted. "You know if you'd just let us go you wouldn't have to deal with the whole...involved...messy sacrificial fuel thing at all. Might get a day off out of it? Could do all sorts of things with a holiday on a planet like this. Have you seen Fiji? Come to think of it there's...probably all sorts of wonders to be found wandering the bottom of the ocean when you're not busy being crushed by all the weight of the ocean..."

One of them growled, and he immediately silenced. Apparently collapsing the throne room made one unpopular. Or at least not to be trusted to talk, anyway. Which honestly, Rose was a little surprised sometimes there weren't galactic laws addressing the subject.

"So..." Rose said, "new plan?" They couldn't exactly collapse a cave which wasn't _there_ after all.

"Well..." He pursed his lips an frowned when the creatures hissed again.

"They _really_ don't like you talking."

He shrugged and smiled. Which...was less than helpful. This was really turning out to be a terrible escape-rescue. Getting captured all over again would stick it down at the bottom with the other Worst Rescue Attempts she's been a part of, and distressingly close to a Failed Escape. Which would be not good considering the morning would be sacrifice-day.

It occurred to her then that the creatures were still hissing, but the Doctor made no effort to respond to them. Instead he frowned with increasing curiosity. She turned her head to ask for a translation—or a general paraphrasing, she was fine with that, too—when a drop of wetness landed on her cheek. Then nose. Hand.

...Rain? It was _raining_? The hissing increased in pitch until the creatures howled and shrieked, turning quickly from 'apprehending' to 'fleeing for their rocky lives'. Meanwhile, the Doctor had turned his head up to the sky and started grinning, holding out his arms.

"_Right on time_! Hah! Brilliant!" He laughed and took a step forward, arms outstretched as those early drops of rain turned to a torrential downpour in record time. The hard packed clay and earth they'd walked on up to this point was already puddling and becoming mud in the rain...and where was it even coming from? There wasn't any water on the planet.

"Doctor? What did you _do_?"

He dropped his hands and turned back to her, though his actual gaze didn't quite land on her. "I can't just make it rain on command, Rose. It takes more technology than a sonic screwdriver to do that. Isn't that right, Miss Jones?"

Rose spun at that, just in time to see a rather dirty looking but triumphant Adeola Jones skid down the muddy side of the cliff they'd topped a short while ago. "Something like the weather-control satellites orbiting the planet?"

"Weather control?" Rose glanced back at the Doctor a moment. "I thought you said-"

"Of course! No water at _all_, Rose." He skipped forward between she and Adeola still grinning. "No water, and blue skies. The Pyrovilles can't use it at all, and they couldn't just make it _go away_. They had to move it! Where better than as a shield to keep people out of their sacred land?" He turned toward Adeola. "But how did you know?"

"When you were captured, they all went crazy and started gathering around down there to see what happened. All of their factories and controls up here were left unguarded, and when you mentioned there wasn't any water, it had to go _somewhere_. S'pose it was just luck finding the controls, but once I had the time to look them over, they're not that different from some of the devices Torchwood's been studying. It just took awhile for the satellites to reverse their hold. Then-"

"Let there be _rain_! Hah!" He yanked the both of them in for a hug as he continued to grin up at the sky. "All of Earth's water returned at once!"

Which...was really good for escape and the future of this Earth, but, judging from the mushiness of the ground... "It's all pouring down at once? Right _now_? Won't that cause...some sort of Biblical flood?"

"Yes, well...it'll take days to drop it all. All of Earth's life has moved underground by now, they should be safe if they keep down deep, and they'll have to stay down there long enough for other life to land and flourish here again! Oh, thousands of years at least! It'll be a whole new planet by the time they can emerge again. They'll have a second chance to make contact properly, and no global catastrophe to give them an upper hand."

For a few moments, though she knew it wouldn't be _humans_ on Earth, that made it all...some what better. Rose found herself grinning and laughing up at the rain, caught up in his jubilation as well. She probably would have been caught up longer, actually, but Adeola chose that moment to speak.

"Those machines won't be water proof, will they? If they short out and we're standing in a puddle of water..."

"Right!" He stepped back then and grabbed the both of their hands as he turned again. "C'mon! _Run!_"

She thought, looking over the other times she'd run back to the TARDIS in the rain and mud, this was the best such time.


End file.
